Path: dp-news.maxwell.syr.edu!spool.maxwell.syr.edu!drn.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!prodigy.com!newsmst01a.news.prodigy.com!prodigy.com!postmaster.news.prodigy.com!newssvr19.news.prodigy.com.POSTED!9e8eff72!not-for-mail Reply-To: "Christopher Jung" From: "Christopher Jung" Newsgroups: comp.databases.oracle.misc References: <31oqp1F3d2fp2U1@individual.net> <31p2k8F3ebv5oU1@individual.net> <31p6epF3eaf54U1@individual.net> <31qg1jF3e4ukuU1@individual.net> <1102607766.37470@yasure> <31rb9iF3fc4jgU1@individual.net> <1102630865.868575@yasure> Subject: Re: formatting output with SQL*Plus Lines: 32 Organization: blank X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 4.156.39.102 X-Complaints-To: abuse@prodigy.net X-Trace: newssvr19.news.prodigy.com 1102869282 ST000 4.156.39.102 (Sun, 12 Dec 2004 11:34:42 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 12 Dec 2004 11:34:42 EST X-UserInfo1: TSU[@SJE]RRAR_DYFJKD^PP@[JTFQLTLFXVH_IQDJ@_@FNHCYFWUQBKZQLYJX\_ITFD_KFVLUN[DOM_A_NSYNWPFWNS[XV\I]PZ@BQ[@CDQDPCL^FKCBIPC@KLGEZEFNMDYMKHRL_YYYGDSSODXYN@[\BK[LVTWI@AXGQCOA_SAH@TPD^\AL\RLGRFWEARBM Date: Sun, 12 Dec 2004 16:34:42 GMT Xref: dp-news.maxwell.syr.edu comp.databases.oracle.misc:115003 If you want to extract this data the way you want, I'd try perl dbi. If your location doesn't have perl or the expertise, that could be a show stopper though. "Thomas Kellerer" wrote in message news:cpal5n$5g0$1@svr7.m-online.net... > DA Morgan wrote on 09.12.2004 23:22: > > you could try CASTing as a CLOB or alternatively CASTing as smaller > > VARCHARs. For example: > That gives me an "ORA-00932: inconsistent datatypes" > > Casting to a smaller varchar doesn't help, as it truncates the entries... > > > But I'd be fascinated to know why every column is defined as a > > VARCHAR2(2000) and see if you can bring some sanity to the design > > (assuming there isn't some valid reason for the size). > > Don't ask :) It's used to store large portion of textual information in > different languages. Some of them are actually HTML fragments (that's why > they are that big). I can image a several better ways of storing (and > moving around) this kind of information, but we have inherited this system > and are not able to change it. > My (wild) guess is, that the original creators would have taken LONGs for > every column if Oracle had only let them :) > > Thanks for your help. > > Cheers > Thomas >