Re: Length of LONG datatype

From: Paul Baumgartel <treegarden_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2002 14:42:48 -0800
Message-ID: <F001.0042DF1C.20020319144248@fatcity.com>

I'll address your second question, because I don't know, offhand, the answer to the first!

IMO, there's almost no advantage to using LONG. There are many restrictions on its use (e.g., only one LONG in a table), you can't apply a function to a LONG column, you can't use it in a set operation, etc. In addition, Oracle says that the LONG datatype will soon be phased out.

If you can fit your data into 4000 or fewer characters, use VARCHAR2. If not, go for CLOB/BLOB, which require a little more overhead, but are much more useable than LONG.

Paul Baumgartel
Adept Computer Associates, Inc.
treegarden_at_yahoo.com

• "Rusnak, George A." <rusnakga_at_hqlee.deca.mil> wrote:
  > Group,
  > Please share with me a way to determine the actual length of data in
  > a LONG
  > data type. As a follow on, what are the pros/cons of using LONG vs.
  > CLOB or
  > VARCHAR2 ??
  >
  > TIA
  >
  > Al Rusnak
  > 804-734-8453
  > rusnakga_at_hqlee.deca.mil
  >
  > --
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  > Author: Rusnak, George A.
  > INET: rusnakga_at_hqlee.deca.mil
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Author: Paul Baumgartel
  INET: treegarden_at_yahoo.com

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Received on Tue Mar 19 2002 - 16:42:48 CST