I have a table with one column " otname " table1.otname contains multiple rows of alpha-numeric string resembling the following data sample:

11.10.32.12.U.A.F.3.2.21.249.1

2001.1.1003.8281.A.LE.P.P

2010.1.1003.8261.A.LE.B.B

I want to read the fourth number in every string ( part of the string in bold ) and write a query in Oracle 10g to read its description stored in another table. My dilemma is writing the first part of the query.i.e. choosing the fourth number of every string in a table

My second query will be something like this:

select description_text from table2 where sncode = 8281  -- fourth part of the data sample in every string

Many thanks.

novice