Oracle TO_CHAR(bfile|blob) Function

Oracle TO_CHAR(bfile|blob) is a built-in function that converts BFILE or BLOB data into database character set.

Oracle TO_CHAR(bfile|blob) Syntax

Here is the syntax for Oracle TO_CHAR(bfile|blob) function:

TO_CHAR( { bfile | blob } [, csid] )

Parameters

bfile | blob

Required. The BFILE or BLOB data to be converted.

csid

Optional. It specifies 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, you can specify a value of 0 for csid or omit the csid parameter entirely.

Return Value

Oracle TO_CHAR(bfile|blob) function returns the given BFILE or BLOB data in the database character set.

The return value of TO_CHAR(bfile|blob) is always VARCHAR2. If the returned value is too large to fit in the VARCHAR2 data type, the data is truncated.

Oracle TO_CHAR(bfile|blob) Examples

Here is a hypothetical example that takes the BFILE column media_col using character set ID 873 in table media_tab as input. The example returns a VARCHAR2 value using the database character set.

SELECT TO_CHAR(media_col, 873)
FROM media_tab;

Conclusion

Oracle TO_CHAR(bfile|blob) is a built-in function that converts BFILE or BLOB data into the database character set.