Arguments in a stored procedure.

Question

Hi,
Please can you tell me:
What is the maximum size of a VARCHAR2 parameter as passed as an argument in an Oracle stored procedure.
e.g.
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE test (test_param VARCHAR2)
IS
The maximum string length of test_param is?
Thanks,
Duncan

Answer 1

In the declaration of a stored procedure only the argument types are specified, not the sizes or lengthsIt's annoying that we cannot enforce sizings even if we use a SUBTYPE to declare a parameter in a procedure's signature: it can only be done inside the procedure itself....
SQL> create or replace package my_subtypes as
  2     subtype ltd_string is varchar2(10);
  3  end;
  4  /
Package created.
SQL> create or replace function my_f
  2      (p_in in my_subtypes.ltd_string)
  3      return number
  4  as
  5  begin
  6      return length(p_in);
  7  end;
  8  /
Function created.
SQL> select my_f(to_char(sysdate, 'dd-mon-yyyy hh24:mi:ss'))
  2  from dual
  3  /
MY_F(TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,'DD-MON-YYYYHH24:MI:SS'))
                                            20
SQL> create or replace function my_f
  2      (p_in in my_subtypes.ltd_string)
  3      return number
  4  as
  5      lv my_subtypes.ltd_string;
  6  begin
  7      lv := p_in;
  8      return length(lv);
  9  end;
10  /
Function created.
SQL> select my_f(to_char(sysdate, 'dd-mon-yyyy hh24:mi:ss'))
  2  from dual
  3  /
select my_f(to_char(sysdate, 'dd-mon-yyyy hh24:mi:ss'))
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-06502: PL/SQL: numeric or value error: character string buffer too small
ORA-06512: at "APC.MY_F", line 7
SQL>Cheers, APC
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