Nice subject of the post :))

Your second query:

select item_type, name
from wf_item_attribute_values
where text_value ='Element QUANTITY not complete, expected elements
''[UOM]''.'

Is perfect fine the way it is.
If you wanted an easy way to find any row that has an quote embedded in
the string, you can use the INSTR function. For example:

SQL> select * from (select 'G''day' msg from dual)
2 where instr(msg,'''') > 0;

MSG
-----
G'day

SQL> select * from (select 'Gday' msg from dual)
2 where instr(msg,'''') > 0;

no rows selected


The nice thing about the INSTR solution is that you can put an fbi on
it.

Good luck,
Anthony


Oracle LazyDBA home page