@Frodo said:
<font face="Verdana">Well you can always use NVL...
</font><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(239,239,239)">SELECT * FROM SM_STPD_TB
WHERE NVL(SM_STPD_CD, '') != 'XYZ'
</font><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(239,239,239)">
</font>
At least in 8i, there is no such thing as a zero-length string, so (if I remember the asinine rules correctly) NVL(SM_STPD_CD,'') = NVL(SM_STPD_CD,NULL) = SM_STPD_CD.