Oracle 10g - Return default when no record found

I think I got it.... May not be the best, but it works

I am using a UNION ALL  
with Select '1' from Dual
then
Fetch First 1 row only

Please avoid what JDCam has suggested!! Don't get me wrong, but that's bad practice! Just use exception handling: like NO_DATA_FOUND! Maybe in conjunction with a custom function/package that returns the selected value or '1' if none is found.

Please post your suggestion as a TSQL example

If no row is returned then coalesce or nvl have no row to supply the default value on. Hence you need a row. An alternative approach in SQL:

SELECT
    COALESCE(
       (SELECT
            ALT_INVT_REP_CODE
        FROM M_Item_D3
        WHERE Comp_Code = 'A1'
        AND Cust_code = 'ARCINT'
        AND ALT_INVT_REP_TP_CODE = 'UNIT'
        AND Item_code = 'XMC613'
        AND rownum = 1
        )
    , 1)
FROM dual

Select allOpen in new window

this assumes you only ever want a single value returned.

Not sure why you want TSQL, but in TSQL just remove "FROM dual" from what you see above.
(TSQL is used by MS SQL Server and some versions of Sybase)

@PortletPaul: the "main" select will still raise NO_DATA_FOUND in case it does not return any row!

 @slightwv: Ok, it depends: if he uses this one as straight SQL, I'm at your side, but this is done within PL/SQL, IMHO, you should avoid that DUAL workaround. Where is that SQL being used/executed?!

>>but this is done within PL/SQL, IMHO, you should avoid that DUAL workaround

Agreed!

This works in TSQL (as long as the subquery is valid) but I still don't know why TSQL was asked for

SELECT
    COALESCE(
       (SELECT TOP(1)
            ALT_INVT_REP_CODE
        FROM M_Item_D3
        WHERE Comp_Code = 'A1'
        AND Cust_code = 'ARCINT'
        AND ALT_INVT_REP_TP_CODE = 'UNIT'
        AND Item_code = 'XMC613'
        )
    , 1)

Select allOpen in new window

This one DOES work in Oracle 11g

create table M_Item_D3 (
    Comp_Code varchar2(10)
  , cost_code varchar2(10)
  , cust_code varchar2(10)
  , ALT_INVT_REP_TP_CODE varchar2(10)
  , ALT_INVT_REP_CODE int
  , item_code varchar2(10)
    )
;


SELECT
    COALESCE(
       (SELECT
            ALT_INVT_REP_CODE
        FROM M_Item_D3
        WHERE Comp_Code = 'A1'
        AND Cust_code = 'ARCINT'
        AND ALT_INVT_REP_TP_CODE = 'UNIT'
        AND Item_code = 'XMC613'
        and rownum = 1
        )
    , 1) as x
from dual
;

|  X |
|----|
|  1 |

Select allOpen in new window

see this online demonstration

Even if the subquery has no data to return, this query returns 1 from dual.
(Note that the column ALT_INVT_REP_CODE has to be numeric.)

Apologies….  I should have said Straight SQL, not TSQL.  My point was to achieve this within query syntax and without the need to write custom Function/package.  

Using the value later... This query will be nested into a larger query and the value returned to be used in division with another value.

Based on SlightWV comments, I will stick with the  Union All, Dual approach.

Thanks all, and sorry for the confusion