The LLD_LobType function

The following example shows how to use the LLD_LobType function to obtain the type of data—BLOB or CLOB—that an lld_lob column contains.

The slobs table in this example is the same one created in Figure 1. That example created the table and inserted a BLOB type large object for key 1 and a CLOB type large object for key 2.

Figure 1. The LLD_LobType function

-- LLD_LobType UDR
select key, lld_lobtype(slo) from slobs;

        key (expression) 

          1 blob
          2 clob


select slo::clob from slobs where lld_lobtype(slo) = 'clob';


(expression)  
Ask not what your country can do for you,
but what you can do for your country.

The first SELECT statement returns:

1 blob
2 clob

indicating that the data associated with key 1 is of type BLOB and the data associated with key 2 is of type CLOB.

The second SELECT statement uses LLD_LobType to retrieve the columns containing CLOB type data. The second SELECT statement casts the slo column (which is of type lld_lob) to retrieve CLOB type data.