totn Oracle Functions

Oracle / PLSQL: DUMP Function

This Oracle tutorial explains how to use the Oracle/PLSQL DUMP function with syntax and examples.

Description

The Oracle/PLSQL DUMP function returns a varchar2 value that includes the datatype code, the length in bytes, and the internal representation of the expression.

Syntax

The syntax for the DUMP function in Oracle/PLSQL is:

DUMP( expression [, return_format] [, start_position] [, length] )

Parameters or Arguments

expression
The expression to analyze.
return_format

Optional. It determines the format of the return value. This parameter can be any of the following values:

Value Explanation
8 octal notation
10 decimal notation
16 hexadecimal notation
17 single characters
1008 octal notation with the character set name
1010 decimal notation with the character set name
1016 hexadecimal notation with the character set name
1017 single characters with the character set name
start_position
Optional. The start position in the internal representation to return.
length
Optional. The length of the internal representation to return.

Returns

The DUMP function returns a VARCHAR2 value.
If the return_format, start_position and length parameters are omitted, the DUMP function will return the entire internal representation in decimal notation.

Applies To

The DUMP function can be used in the following versions of Oracle/PLSQL:

  • Oracle 12c, Oracle 11g, Oracle 10g, Oracle 9i, Oracle 8i

Example

Let's look at some Oracle DUMP function examples and explore how to use the DUMP function in Oracle/PLSQL.

For example:

DUMP('Tech')
Result: 'Typ=96 Len=4: 84,101,99,104'

DUMP('Tech', 10)
Result: 'Typ=96 Len=4: 84,101,99,104'

DUMP('Tech', 16)
Result: 'Typ=96 Len=4: 54,65,63,68'

DUMP('Tech', 1016)
Result: 'Typ=96 Len=4 CharacterSet=US7ASCII: 54,65,63,68'

DUMP('Tech', 1017)
Result: 'Typ=96 Len=4 CharacterSet=US7ASCII: T,e,c,h'