Output SELECT statement to CSV file

Question

Can someone advise the best approach please
I'm trying to create a CSV file from the output of a SELECT statement in ApEx as a PL/SQL block. I initially thought the simplest approach would be to use SPOOL and then execute the SELECT startment but I think this is a SQLPlus command and can't be used in PL/SQL.
I then tried using the 'UTL_FILE.PUT' command which works for a single record but I'm not sure how to implement this where the SELECT returns multiple records.
DECLARE
fHandler UTL_FILE.FILE_TYPE;
v_DAT VARCHAR(20);
v_Handle VARCHAR2(20);
BEGIN
SELECT DATA INTO v_DAT FROM HIP_TEST;
v_Handle := CONCAT('HIP_',CONCAT(TO_CHAR(sysdate,'yyyymmddhhmi'),'.csv'));
fHandler := UTL_FILE.FOPEN('/nfsacademy/amp/live', v_Handle, 'w');
UTL_FILE.PUTF(fHandler, v_DAT);
UTL_FILE.FCLOSE(fHandler);
EXCEPTION
WHEN utl_file.invalid_path THEN
raise_application_error(-20000, 'Invalid path. Create directory or set UTL_FILE_DIR.');
END;

Answer 1

Hi,
You can try this.
DECLARE
fHandler UTL_FILE.FILE_TYPE;
v_DAT VARCHAR(20);
v_Handle VARCHAR2(20);
BEGIN
v_Handle := CONCAT('HIP_',CONCAT(TO_CHAR(sysdate,'yyyymmddhhmi'),'.csv'));
fHandler := UTL_FILE.FOPEN('/nfsacademy/amp/live', v_Handle, 'w');
FOR I IN (SELECT DATA FROM HIP_TEST)
LOOP
     UTL_FILE.PUTF(fHandler, i.data);
END LOOP;
UTL_FILE.FCLOSE(fHandler);
EXCEPTION
WHEN utl_file.invalid_path THEN
raise_application_error(-20000, 'Invalid path. Create directory or set UTL_FILE_DIR.');
END;** NOT TESTED **
Alternatively you can also use DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE.
Regards,
Avinash
Edited by: Avinash Tripathi on Nov 17, 2009 3:35 PM