Oracle Translate & Replace

Oracle Translate & Replace Version 11.2.0.3

General Information
Note: Translate and replace are very similar in their appearance but can produce very different results. Translate replaces by position, the first character of the list to match is replaced by the first character of the replacement list. The second character with the second, and if there are characters in the list to match that do not have positional equivalents in the replacements list they are dropped. Replace replaces the string to match with the replacement string. The replacement of a single character is the same as that of TRANSLATE.

Translate Built-in String Function
TRANSLATE Syntax	TRANSLATE( str1 IN VARCHAR2 CHARACTER SET ANY_CS, src IN VARCHAR2 CHARACTER SET STR1%CHARSET, dest IN VARCHAR2 CHARACTER SET STR1%CHARSET) RETURN IN VARCHAR2 CHARACTER SET STR1%CHARSET;
Single Character Replacement Replace all commas with vertical bars	SELECT TRANSLATE ('comma,delimited,list', ',', '\| ') FROM dual;
Multiple Character Replacement Turns a DNA sequence into its complement	SELECT TRANSLATE('CAG-TTT-GAC-ACA-TGG-ATC', 'ACGT ', 'GATC') DNA FROM dual;
Character Replacement and Elimination The 'a' is replaced with an 'e', the 'h' has no complement and is dropped.	SELECT TRANSLATE('So What', 'ah', 'e') FROM dual;
Eliminating Double Quotes. Capital A is replaced with capital A. The double quote is eliminated because there is no match.	SELECT TRANSLATE('"Darn double quotes "', 'A"', 'A') FROM dual;
Encryption / Decryption	SELECT TRANSLATE('this is a secret', 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvxyz', '0123456789qwertyuiop[kjhbv') FROM dual; SELECT TRANSLATE('p78o 8o 0 o42i4p', '0123456789qwertyuiop[kjhbv', 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvxyz') FROM dual;
Counting Vowels	WITH data AS (SELECT 'Whose line is it anyway' line FROM dual) SELECT LENGTH(line)-LENGTH(TRANSLATE(line,'xaeiou','x')) nbVowels FROM data;

Replace Built-in String Function
REPLACE Syntax Overload 1	REPLACE( srcstr IN VARCHAR2 CHARACTER SET ANY_CS, oldsub IN VARCHAR2 CHARACTER SET SRCSTR%CHARSET, newsub IN VARCHAR2 CHARACTER SET SRCSTR%CHARSET := NULL) RETURN VARCHAR2 CHARACTER SET SRCSTR%CHARSET;
REPLACE Syntax Overload 2	REPLACE( srcstr IN CLOB CHARACTER SET ANY_CS, oldsub IN CLOB CHARACTER SET SRCSTR%CHARSET, newsub IN CLOB CHARACTER SET SRCSTR%CHARSET := NULL) RETURN IN CLOB CHARACTER SET SRCSTR%CHARSET;
Single Character Replacement	REPLACE(<string>, <'string_to_match'>,<'replacements_string'>)
Single Character Replacement	SELECT REPLACE('So What', 'o', 'ay') FROM dual;
Multiple Character Replacement	Replacement of a single character with a phrase
Multiple Character Replacement	SELECT REPLACE('An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called a n idea at all.', 'n idea', ' software program') TRUTH FROM dual;