SQL & PL/SQL

I have a description column (VARCHAR2 type) in a table. I need to add a separator (at a pre-determined position which is based on some logic) within the description to identify it in 2 portions. The description with the separator needs to be persisted in the table. I also need to display the description in the online pages, but without the separator.

Eg: If I use '|' as the separator then the description would be -
Databases are|useful

For the online page, I would need to use some kind of trim() in the SELECT query to remove the '|'. The trim() is going to be an overhead and I'm trying to see if this can be avoided.

Is there any special character which can be used as a separator, but doesn't have to be trimmed? Something like a character which exists in the column but is invisible in ouput of a SELECT query.