Updating a LONG column !!!!

Question

I have a column defined as a LONG in a table, I am trying to
update that column through a loop, everytime I update I have to
concatenate that with a new string, that's my requirement.
example:
update my_long_table
set my_long_column = my_long_column || 'My String';
but, it is not allowing me to do this operation as throws
"incosistent datatypes" error, how can I do this update
operation ?
can anyone help me out in this, I really appreciate your help.
you can email me at [email protected] or reply to my message.
Thanks in Advance,
$rinivas C.

Answer 1

A LONG is not a VARCHAR2; that's why you get the error message
that you do. It is very difficult to manipulate LONG columns:
they're really intended to hold information rather than data, so
Oracle made an assumption that people wouldn't want to do the
sort of thing you're trying to do. Personally I curse the
inventor of the LONG each time I try to manipulate the test of a
view by selecting from USER_VIEWS.
if you have any choice in the matter I suggest you redesign the
table to avoid the use of LONG - 8i supports VARCHAR2(32K) which
ought to be long enough to hold most things.
If that's not an option try looking at the DBMS_LOB package.
Using its procedures you can write a function that turns the LONG
into an array of VARCHARs, append your text and then squirt the
VARCHARs back into a LONG.
I'm not saying it'll be pretty, but it's the only game in town.
Good luck, APC