How to query a CLOB column in Oracle

Question

I\'m trying to run a query that has a few columns that are a CLOB datatype. If i run the query like normal, all of those fields just have (CLOB) as the value.

Answer 1

If it's a CLOB why can't we to_char the column and then search normally ?

Create a table

CREATE TABLE MY_TABLE(Id integer PRIMARY KEY, Name varchar2(20), message clob);

Create few records in this table

INSERT INTO MY_TABLE VALUES(1,'Tom','Hi This is Row one');
INSERT INTO MY_TABLE VALUES(2,'Lucy', 'Hi This is Row two');
INSERT INTO MY_TABLE VALUES(3,'Frank', 'Hi This is Row three');
INSERT INTO MY_TABLE VALUES(4,'Jane', 'Hi This is Row four');
INSERT INTO MY_TABLE VALUES(5,'Robert', 'Hi This is Row five');
COMMIT;

Search in the clob column

SELECT * FROM MY_TABLE where to_char(message) like '%e%';

Results

ID   NAME    MESSAGE   
===============================  
1    Tom     Hi This is Row one         
3    Frank   Hi This is Row three
5    Robert  Hi This is Row five