Slice,
I've done some checking and here is what I have found:
1) RTF-to-text conversion software can be pretty pricey.
2) I cannot locate any existing database/procedural-language algorthms to strip RTF tags.
3) Stripping RTF tags can be an algorithmic nightmare (ergo the pricey software).
Since this is a one-time shot (to convert the RTF-tagged text into plain text), and if I were in your shoes, I would seriously consider the following:
1) write a PL/SQL routine to read the RTF-tagged text,
2) write the text to individual flat files (using your PK value for each row as the "<PK-file name>.rtf") using Oracle's "utl_file" packaged procedures,
3) Open the resulting flat files in something like Word,
4) Save the content to a non-RTF, plain-text file named "<PK-file name>.txt"
5) Use a PL/SQL routine to read the flat, plain-text files back into their respective rows.
You can probably assign some lower-wage-per-hour administrative person to do the busy work of opening the files in Word, then saving them back out to plain "*.txt" files.
Anyone out there with a better suggestion than this one? I'd be very interested, myself.
Let us know your thoughts, Slice.
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