ORA-01461: can bind a LONG value only for insert into a LONG column-Occurs when querying

Question

When I try to query objects, I end up with following error:

ORA-01461: can bind a LONG value only for insert into a LONG column

Could someo

Answer 1

This error occurs when one attempts to use a varchar variable longer than 4000 bytes in an SQL statement. PL/SQL allows varchars up to 32767 bytes, but the limit for database tables and SQL language is 4000. You can't use PL/SQL variables that SQL doesn't recognize in SQL statements; an exception, as the message explains, is a direct insert into a long-type column.

create table test (v varchar2(10), c clob);


declare
  shortStr varchar2(10) := '0123456789';
  longStr1 varchar2(10000) := shortStr;
  longStr2 varchar2(10000);
begin
  for i in 1 .. 10000
  loop
    longStr2 := longStr2 || 'X';
  end loop;

  -- The following results in ORA-01461
  insert into test(v, c) values(longStr2, longStr2);

  -- This is OK; the actual length matters, not the declared one
  insert into test(v, c) values(longStr1, longStr1);

  -- This works, too (a direct insert into a clob column)
  insert into test(v, c) values(shortStr, longStr2);

  -- ORA-01461 again: You can't use longStr2 in an SQL function!
  insert into test(v, c) values(shortStr, substr(longStr2, 1, 4000));
end;