Error in getting Long data type from Table

Question

Hi All,
I have one table say xx_long. In this table one column is having Long data type.
Now I want this values will get in to the PL/SQL variable. I taken variable data type as long but it is showing error "ORA-00997: illegal use of LONG datatype".
Sample code with which I tried:
declare
a long;
begin
select slno into a from xx_long where slno = 100;
dbms_output.put_line('Value:'||a);
end;
Please help me on this.
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Hari

Answer 1

LONG columns cannot appear in certain parts of SQL statements:
WHERE clauses, GROUP BY clauses, ORDER BY clauses, or CONNECT BY clauses or with the DISTINCT operator in SELECT statements
The UNIQUE operator of a SELECT statement
The column list of a CREATE CLUSTER statement
The CLUSTER clause of a CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW statement
SQL functions (such as SUBSTR or INSTR)
Expressions or conditions
SELECT lists of queries containing GROUP BY clauses
SELECT lists of subqueries or queries combined by the UNION, INTERSECT, or MINUS set operators
SELECT lists of CREATE TABLE ... AS SELECT statements
SELECT lists in subqueries in INSERT statements