title: what is the alternative way to check for null with out using is null operator in oracle
body: <p>I had written an stored procedure where selecting from one table(some columns have null data) and inserting into other table with out duplicates.</p>
  
  <p>part of my stored procedure code:</p>
  
  <pre><code> LOOP
     BEGIN
       SELECT ID
         INTO ROWCOUNT
     FROM TBL_EMPLOYEE
   WHERE 
  
       NAME      = TEMPTABLE.NAME
    AND AGE           =TEMPTABLE.AGE
  
  EXCEPTION
  WHEN no_data_found THEN
    ROWCOUNT := 0;
  END;
  IF ROWCOUNT = 0 THEN
    INSERT INTO TARGET TABLE ......
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>In the above piece of code there is null data for some columns(eg: TEMPTABLE.AGE  etc).
  when there is null value it is throwing no_data_found exception and it is inserting the data. we tried alternatively by putting nvl function which is taking more time.</p>
  
  <pre><code>LOOP
  BEGIN
    SELECT ID
    INTO ROWCOUNT
    FROM TBL_EMPLOYEE
   WHERE 
  
       nvl(NAME,0000)      = nvl(TEMPTABLE.NAME,0000)
    AND nvl(AGE,0000)           =nvl(TEMPTABLE.AGE,0000)
  
  EXCEPTION
  WHEN no_data_found THEN
    ROWCOUNT := 0;
  END;
  IF ROWCOUNT = 0 THEN
    INSERT INTO TARGET TABLE ......
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Can any one suggest any alternative how to do null check with equals to operator.
  I have tried it with LIKE as well but it did not work.</p>