How can I make Function return varchar2 more than 4000

Question

I have a function
FUNCTION testing (v_pk_application in number, v_inccharges in char)
return varchar2(30000)
--return number
is
v_net_sum varchar2(30000);
v_net_sum2 varchar2(30000);
v_datarow varchar2(3000);
v_datarow2 varchar2(3000);
begin
return v_net_sum;
end;
I want to return varchar2 more than 4000, how can I do that.
Thanks

Answer 1

user10659388 wrote:
I want to return varchar2 more than 4000, how can I do that.A function can return a string up to the maximum allowed for varchar2.
Varchar2 can be up to 32767 characters...
SQL> create or replace function ret_str return varchar2 is
  2    v_str varchar2(32767);
  3  begin
  4    v_str := lpad('*',32767,'*');
  5    return v_str;
  6  end;
  7  /
Function created.
SQL> declare
  2    v_retstr varchar2(32767);
  3  begin
  4    v_retstr := ret_str();
  5  end;
  6  /
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.However, SQL only supports varchar2 up to 4000 characters so the same function will cause SQL to error, even though the function is perfectly valid.
SQL> select ret_str() from dual;
select ret_str() from dual
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-06502: PL/SQL: numeric or value error: character string buffer too small
ORA-06512: at "SCOTT.RET_STR", line 5
SQL>So, if you intend to use the function only in PL/SQL then you can use varchar2 up to 32767 characters, but if you intend to use it in SQL then you will be limited to returning 4000 characters. Alternatively you can return a CLOB which SQL supports but they are a little more tricky to work with than varchar2...
SQL> ed
Wrote file afiedt.buf
  1  create or replace function ret_str return clob is
  2    v_str clob;
  3  begin
  4    v_str := lpad('*',32767,'*');
  5    return v_str;
  6* end;
SQL> /
Function created.
SQL> select ret_str() from dual;
RET_STR()
SQL>