8.9.18 blobtovarchar statement (specification of column subject to data conversion)

The blobtovarchar statement specifies the name of an abstract data type column with BLOB attribute to be converted to the column VARCHAR type before unloading it.

Criterion
Specify the blobtovarchar statement to convert a column of abstract data type with BLOB attribute to the VARCHAR type before unloading it. This statement is applicable only to the abstract data type for which a constructor parameter reverse creation function returns a value of BLOB type.
Rules
  1. You can specify only one blobtovarchar statement.
  2. The blobtovarchar statement is applicable only to an unload operation specifying -W bin.
  3. A data conversion error occurs if the size of data is 32 KB or greater (the maximum size of data definable as VARCHAR type is 32 KB).
Organization of this subsection
(1) Format
(2) Explanation

(1) Format

blobtovarchar column-name[,column-name]...

(2) Explanation

(a) column-name

Specifies the name of an abstract data type column that has a constructor parameter reverse creation function.

The system treats a column name enclosed in double quotation marks as case sensitive; otherwise, the system treats it as all uppercase letters.

You can specify a column name for which the constructor parameter reverse creation function returns a value of BLOB type. Specifying any other column results in an error.