ORA_HASH

ORA_HASH generates hash values for an expression. You can use it to randomly assign a set of values into several buckets for analysis, or to generate a set of random numbers.

Return Value

NUMBER

Syntax

ORA_HASH  (expr [, max_bucket [, seed_value ] ])

Arguments

expr can be any expression that provides the data for generating the hash values.

max_bucket is the maximum bucket number. For example, when max_bucket is set to 5, ORA_HASH returns values of 0 to 5, creating six buckets. Set this value from 0 to 4294967295 or 2^32-1 (default).

seed_value is a value used by ORA_HASH to generate the hash values. Enter a different seed_value for different results. Set this value from 0 (default) to 4294967295 or 2^32-1.

Example

ORA_HASH(PRODUCT_CUBE.PRICES, 5) returns a value in the range of 0 to 5 for each value of the Prices measure, as shown in the Hash 5 column. The rows are also sorted on the Hash 5 column.

ORA_HASH(PRODUCT_CUBE.PRICES, 5, 13) also returns values in the range of 0 to 5, but uses a different seed.