title: Can I pass a number for varchar2 in Oracle?
body: <p>I have an Oracle table and a column (<code>col1</code>) has type <code>varchar2(12 byte)</code>. It has one row and value of <code>col1</code> is <code>1234</code></p>
  
  <p>When I say </p>
  
  <pre><code>select * from table where col1 = 1234
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Oracle says invalid number. Why is that?  Why I cannot pass a number when it is <code>varchar2</code>? </p>
  
  <p>EDIT: All the responses are great. Thank you. But I am not able to understand why it does not take <code>1234</code> when <code>1234</code> is a valid varchar2 datatype.</p>