SQL Error: ORA-00932: inconsistent datatypes: expected - got CHAR

Question

when I run this simple query to delete a row in SQL*PLUS on Oracle, I get the error:

Error report -
SQL Error: ORA-00932: inconsistent datatypes: expected - got CHAR
00932. 00000 -  "inconsistent datatypes: expected %s got %s"
*Cause:    
*Action:

Complete code:

delete from db where TITLE= '<values><value lang="EN">db shared</value></values>';

error:

Error starting at line : 8 in command -
delete from widget_template where TITLE= '<values><value lang="EN">template shared for assets</value></values>'
Error at Command Line : 8 Column : 42
Error report -
SQL Error: ORA-00932: inconsistent datatypes: expected - got CHAR
00932. 00000 -  "inconsistent datatypes: expected %s got %s"
*Cause:    
*Action:

i tried doing:

delete from db where to_char(TITLE)= '<value lang="EN">template shared for all assets</value>';

with this i get the following err:

ORA-00932: inconsistent datatypes: expected NUMBER got -
00932. 00000 -  "inconsistent datatypes: expected %s got %s"
*Cause:    
*Action:

PS: this is how the TITLE col looks:

not sure how to fix this..any ideas?? Thanks

Alex Poole Alex Poole · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-19T08:17:44

You could use an XMLQuery to compare the XML with the value you want, for example using:

xmlquery('for $i in /values/value[@lang="EN"]
    where $i/text() = "template shared for all assets" return $i'
  passing title returning content)

Quick demo:

create table db (id number, title xmltype);
insert into db (id, title) values (1,
  xmltype('<values><value lang="EN">db shared</value></values>'));
insert into db (id, title) values (2,
  xmltype('<values><value lang="EN">template shared for all assets</value></values>'));

select id,
  xmlquery('/values/value[@lang="EN"]/text()' passing title returning content) as title,
  xmlquery('for $i in /values/value[@lang="EN"]
      where $i/text() = "template shared for all assets" return $i/text()'
    passing title returning content) as matched
from db
order by id;

        ID TITLE                               MATCHED                            
---------- ----------------------------------- -----------------------------------
         1 db shared                                                              
         2 template shared for all assets      template shared for all assets     

delete from db
where xmlquery('for $i in /values/value[@lang="EN"]
    where $i/text() = "template shared for all assets" return $i'
  passing title returning content) is not null;

1 row deleted.

select id,
  xmlquery('/values/value[@lang="EN"]/text()' passing title returning content) as title,
  xmlquery('for $i in /values/value[@lang="EN"]
      where $i/text() = "template shared for all assets" return $i/text()'
    passing title returning content) as matched
from db
order by id;

        ID TITLE                               MATCHED                            
---------- ----------------------------------- -----------------------------------
         1 db shared

SQL Error: ORA-00932: inconsistent datatypes: expected - got CHAR

2 Answers