Vector Constructors

TO_VECTOR() and VECTOR() are synonymous constructors of vectors. The functions take a string of type VARCHAR2 or CLOB as input and return a vector as output.

For detailed information, see TO_VECTOR and VECTOR in the Oracle SQL Language Reference.

Parent topic: Other Basic Vector Functions

TO_VECTOR

Syntax

TO_VECTOR(expr [ , number_of_dimensions [ , format ] ] )

Description of the illustration to_vector.gif

Parent topic: Vector Constructors

VECTOR

Syntax

VECTOR ( expr [ , number_of_dimensions [ , format ] ] )

Description of the illustration vector.gif

Parent topic: Vector Constructors

Parameters

expr must evaluate to either (a) a string that represents a vector (accepted input data types for the string are character types, JSON, CLOB, and BLOB) or (b) a vector. The valid string representation of a vector is in the form of an array of non-null numbers enclosed with a bracket and separated by commas, such as '[1, 3.4, -05.60, 3e+4]'. If it evaluates to a vector (the input's data type is VECTOR), the function serves the purpose of converting it to the specified or default format. The expression can be NULL, in which case the result is NULL as well. If a BLOB is used as the input parameter, it must represent the vector binary bytes.
number_of_dimensions must be a numeric value that describes the number of dimensions of the vector to construct. The number of dimensions may also be specified as an asterisk *, in which case the dimension is determined by expr.
format must be one of the following tokens: INT8, FLOAT32, FLOAT64, or *. This is the target internal storage format of the vector. If * is used, the format will be FLOAT32. Note that this behavior is a bit different than declaring a vector column. If you declare a column of type VECTOR(3, *), then all inserted vectors will NOT have their storage format modified (stored as is).

Parent topic: Vector Constructors

Examples

SELECT TO_VECTOR('[34.6, 77.8]');
SELECT TO_VECTOR('[34.6, 77.8]', 2, FLOAT32);

SELECT TO_VECTOR('[34.6, 77.8]', 2, FLOAT32) FROM dual;

TO_VECTOR('[34.6,77.8]',2,FLOAT32)
---------------------------------------------------------
[3.45999985E+001,7.78000031E+001]

1 row selected.

SELECT TO_VECTOR('[34.6, 77.8, -89.34]', 3, FLOAT32);

TO_VECTOR('[34.6,77.8,-89.34]',3,FLOAT32)
-----------------------------------------------------------
[3.45999985E+001,7.78000031E+001,-8.93399963E+001]

1 row selected.

Note:

Applications using Oracle Client 23ai libraries or Thin mode drivers can insert vector data directly as a string or a CLOB. For example:
```
INSERT INTO vecTab VALUES ('[1.1, 2.9, 3.14]');
```
For applications using pre-Oracle Client 23ai libraries connected to Oracle Database 23ai, use the TO_VECTOR() SQL function to insert vector data. For example:
```
INSERT INTO vecTab VALUES(TO_VECTOR('[1.1, 2.9, 3.14]'));
```

Parent topic: Vector Constructors