Converting RPAD output from VARCHAR2 to CHAR

Question

I am trying to create a 1000-character fixed-width file using SQL*Plus. The query consists of 3 fields with a pad of 25 characters each, with the remaining 925 characters as filler using spaces. Using RPAD I can insert spaces between the three field values, but because the RPAD function uses VARCHAR2 to return the result it is not recognizing the ~945 filler spaces I need at the end of each row.
Is there a way to convert the output of RPAD to a CHAR data type in the query itself? Maybe something equivalent to the CONVERT function in t-SQL?
Query I'm using:
Select RPAD(Col1, 25, ' ') || RPAD(Col2, 25, ' ') || RPAD(Col3, 950, ' ') From Table1;
Thanks,
Matt

Answer 1

Hi,
Welcome to the forum!
You can ihave trailing spaces (950 of them if you want, no problem) in a VARCHAR2 column. I suspect your font-end tool is not displaying them.
The SQL*Plus commands
SET  TRIM        OFF
SET  TRIMSPOOOL  OFFshould guarantee that trailing spaces are displayed in screen- and SPOOL file output, respectively.
Also, make sure your lines are long enough:
SET  LINESIZE    1000If you still have a problem, post a complete test script (including all the SQL*PLus formatting commands you use) as well as a query. (Something using dual or scottt.dept should illustrate the problem adequately).