Re: Converitng LONG to CHAR

Franz Mueller <nospam#####franz.mueller_at_orbis.de> wrote in message news:38c139bc.159449_at_news.salink.net...
> Hi,
>
> I eould like to convert a LONG to a char field. In the newsgroup I
> found the following sp:
>
> CREATE OR REPLACE Function Long2Char(lngVal IN long) RETURN VARCHAR2
> IS lngResult
> VARCHAR2(2000);
> Begin
> lngResult := lngVal;
> Return (lngResult);
> End;
> /
>
> This compiles without any problem but if I try to access it:
>
> SQL> select long2char(long_field) from my_table;
>
> I get: ORA-00997: illegal use of LONG datatype
>
> What can I do?

This function can only be used in PL/SQL, not in SQL. That's why the complier didn't return any error messages. LONG datatype can not be used in the parameters of functions in SQL. That's why ORA-997 occured.

But, this function is useless, since VARCHAR2 and LONG datatype are almost the same in PL/SQL.

You can find the answer in Thomas Kyte's home page. Received on Mon Mar 06 2000 - 00:00:00 CST