How can I select from list of values in Oracle

You don't need to create any stored types, you can evaluate Oracle's built-in collection types.

select distinct column_value from table(sys.odcinumberlist(1,1,2,3,3,4,4,5))

If you are seeking to convert a comma delimited list of values:

select column_value 
from table(sys.dbms_debug_vc2coll('One', 'Two', 'Three', 'Four'));

-- Or

select column_value 
from table(sys.dbms_debug_vc2coll(1,2,3,4));

If you wish to convert a string of comma delimited values then I would recommend Justin Cave's regular expression SQL solution.


There are various ways to take a comma-separated list and parse it into multiple rows of data. In SQL

SQL> ed
Wrote file afiedt.buf

  1  with x as (
  2    select '1,2,3,a,b,c,d' str from dual
  3  )
  4   select regexp_substr(str,'[^,]+',1,level) element
  5     from x
  6* connect by level <= length(regexp_replace(str,'[^,]+')) + 1
SQL> /

ELEMENT
----------------------------------------------------
1
2
3
a
b
c
d

7 rows selected.

Or in PL/SQL

SQL> create type str_tbl is table of varchar2(100);
  2  /

Type created.

SQL> create or replace function parse_list( p_list in varchar2 )
  2    return str_tbl
  3    pipelined
  4  is
  5  begin
  6    for x in (select regexp_substr( p_list, '[^,]', 1, level ) element
  7                from dual
  8             connect by level <= length( regexp_replace( p_list, '[^,]+')) + 1)
  9    loop
 10      pipe row( x.element );
 11    end loop
 12    return;
 13  end;
 14
 15  /

Function created.

SQL> select *
  2    from table( parse_list( 'a,b,c,1,2,3,d,e,foo' ));

COLUMN_VALUE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a
b
c
1
2
3
d
e
f

9 rows selected.

Starting from Oracle 12.2, you don't need the TABLE function, you can directly select from the built-in collection.

SQL> select * FROM sys.odcinumberlist(5,2,6,3,78);

COLUMN_VALUE
------------
           5
           2
           6
           3
          78

SQL> select * FROM sys.odcivarchar2list('A','B','C','D');

COLUMN_VALUE
------------
A
B
C
D