TO_CHAR (bfile|blob)

Syntax

to_char_bfile_blob::=

Description of the illustration to_char_bfile_blob.eps

Purpose

TO_CHAR (bfile|blob) converts BFILE or BLOB data to the database character set. The value returned is always VARCHAR2. If the value returned is too large to fit into the VARCHAR2 data type, then the data is truncated.

For csid, specify the character set ID of the BFILE or BLOB data. If the character set of the BFILE or BLOB data is the database character set, then you can specify a value of 0 for csid, or omit csid altogether.

See Also:

Appendix C in Oracle Database Globalization Support Guide for the collation derivation rules, which define the collation assigned to the character return value of this function

Example

The following hypothetical example takes as its input a BFILE column media_col in table media_tab, which uses the character set with ID 873. The example returns a VARCHAR2 value that uses the database character set.

SELECT TO_CHAR(media_col, 873) FROM media_tab;