EMPTY_BLOB, EMPTY_CLOB

Syntax

empty_LOB::=

Description of the illustration empty_LOB.gif


Purpose

EMPTY_BLOB and EMPTY_CLOB return an empty LOB locator that can be used to initialize a LOB variable or, in an INSERT or UPDATE statement, to initialize a LOB column or attribute to EMPTY. EMPTY means that the LOB is initialized, but not populated with data. You must initialize a LOB attribute that is part of an object type before you can access and populate it.

Restriction on LOB Locators

You cannot use the locator returned from this function as a parameter to the DBMS_LOB package or the OCI.

Examples

The following example initializes the ad_photo column of the sample pm.print_media table to EMPTY:

UPDATE print_media SET ad_photo = EMPTY_BLOB();