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 you are using SQL*Plus try the following...

set long 8000

select ...

Answer 2

Another option is to create a function and call that function everytime you need to select clob column.

create or replace function clob_to_char_func
(clob_column in CLOB,
 for_how_many_bytes in NUMBER,
 from_which_byte in NUMBER)
return VARCHAR2
is
begin
Return substrb(dbms_lob.substr(clob_column
                            ,for_how_many_bytes
                            ,from_which_byte)
            ,1
            ,for_how_many_bytes);
end;

and call that function as;

SELECT tocharvalue, clob_to_char_func(tocharvalue, 1, 9999)
FROM (SELECT clob_column AS tocharvalue FROM table_name);