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Character set conversion when using DBMS_LOB (Doc ID 267356.1)

Last updated on JANUARY 07, 2025

Applies to:

Oracle Database - Enterprise Edition - Version 8.0.3.0 to 11.2.0.2 [Release 8.0.3 to 11.2]
Oracle Database Cloud Schema Service - Version N/A and later
Oracle Database Exadata Cloud Machine - Version N/A and later
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure - Database Service - Version N/A and later
Oracle Database Cloud Exadata Service - Version N/A and later
Information in this document applies to any platform.

Purpose

Document on how to load a file directly into a CLOB.

Scope

Note that we advice to use SQLdeveloper (and not sqlplus) as client when testing with UTL_FILE, this is a "know good client" that needs no NLS configuration.
You can download Sqldveloper from http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/sql_developer/
If the data is displayed correctly in SQLdeveloper then you are sure it's correct in the database.

It is also good to first read <Note:227531.1> Character set conversion when using UTL_FILE

The database needs to be able to STORE the characterset of the files you try to load.
If you have (for example) a file in a CL8MSWIN1251 characterset (=russian windows system) containing cyrillic then you simply cannot store it as a text/Clob field in a WE8ISO8859P1 database.
WE8ISO8859P1 cannot handle cyrillic. Here the solution is to go to a UTF8 database or to store that file as Blob .

Details

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