LONG RAW

LONG RAW is an Oracle data type for storing binary data of variable length up to 2 Gigabytes in length. Note that a table can only have one LONG RAW column.

History

Since Oracle 8i, Oracle advised against using the LONG RAW datatype. Users should convert to the BLOB data type.

Example

SQL> CREATE TABLE t1(id NUMBER, doc LONG RAW);
Table created.
SQL> INSERT INTO t1 VALUES (1, utl_raw.cast_to_raw('Test to go into LONG RAW column'));
1 row created.

Note: SQL*Plus is unable to SELECT a LONG RAW column, you have to write your own program (in C, Java, VB, PHP or whatever supports OCI or OO4O).

Convert to newer BLOB type

Following from the above example, use the TO_LOB function to convert the LONG RAW column to a BLOB:

CREATE TABLE t1_new(id NUMBER, doc BLOB);
INSERT INTO t1_new SELECT id, TO_LOB(doc) FROM t1;
DROP TABLE t1;
RENAME t1_new to t1;

Also see

• LONG