ORA-01858: a non-numeric character was found where a numeric was expected for a simple select query

Question

ORA-01858: a non-numeric character was found where a numeric was expected

1858. 00000 - "a non-numeric character was found where a numeric was expected"

*Cause: The input data to be converted using a date format model was incorrect. The input data did not contain a number where a number was required by the format model.

*Action: Fix the input data or the date format model to make sure the elements match in number and type. Then retry the operation.

I understand why this error may occur but why does it show up when I do a simple select * query?

My query is as simple as this,

select * from myView;

Other observations are, the query works perfectly fine in the java application. Both the Java application and my Oracle client uses the same JDBC String, Username & Password.

What could be it? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Answer 1

In past there was something very similar we encountered, and it wasn't a bad data really.
Try once using hint - NO_MERGE and it might work.

select /*+ NO_MERGE */ * from myview;

Let me know if that works.

Found the answer which helped me back then.