N
name column (products table), 16
name column (product_types table), 15
national character set, converting to/from Unicode, 472
NCLOB (national language character LOB) type, 429, 554
nclob_example() procedure, 472
NCLOBs and CLOBs, implicit conversion between, 472 “473
nested subqueries, 176 “178
NESTED TABLE data type, 555
nested table elements, 395
modifying, 398 “399
selecting, 398
size or precision of, 415 “416
nested tables, 395 “399
adding and retrieving rows, 405
ANSI support for, 417 “425
comparing with = and <>, 417 “418
creating, 395
explained, 390
getting information on, 396 “397
manipulating, 404 “405
populating with elements, 398
storage table for, 416 “417
using to define columns , 395 “396
nested_table_package, 404 “405
next() method (JDBC), 490 “491
next_address() procedure, 411
nextval pseudo column, 312
NLS_DATE_FORMAT datebase parameter, 110, 112
node other than the root, starting at, 198
non- equijoins , 49 “50, 55
nonrepeatable reads (transactions), 264
not equal (<>) operator, 38, 417 “418
NOT EXISTS, with a correlated subquery, 174 “176
NOT IN operator, 41, 171 “172, 418 “419
NOT INSTANTIABLE object type, 383 “385
NOT NULL columns, 20, 248
NOT NULL constraint, 14 “15, 302, 495
Notepad, using to edit SQL*Plus buffer contents, 147
NULL columns, 248 “249, 511
null values, 35 “36
vs. blank strings, 35
checking for, 35
handling, 241 “243
handling in Java, 495 “496
ranking with NULLS FIRST and NULLS LAST, 218
returning a value instead of, 207 “209
NUMBER class (oracle.sql), 516 “517
NUMBER column (products table), 371
NUMBER data type, 12, 553
in Java, 493 “494
stored in the database, 13
numbers
converting to strings, 81 “82
converting using TRANSLATE(), 189
converting x to, 82
digits of precision, 493
in Java programs, 493 “494
numeric columns
changing the precision of, 299
converting using NVL(), 36
numeric functions, 71 “76
NUMTODSINTERVAL() function, 138
NUMTOYMINTERVAL() function, 138
NVL() function, 54 “55, 63, 68 “69
to convert number columns and date columns, 36
to convert string columns with null values, 35