ORA-01461: can bind a LONG value only for insert into a LONG column-Occurs when querying

It can also happen with varchar2 columns. This is pretty reproducible with PreparedStatements through JDBC by simply

1. creating a table with a column of varchar2 (20 or any arbitrary length) and
2. inserting into the above table with a row containing more than 20 characters

So as above said it can be wrong with types, or column width exceeded.

Also note that as varchar2 allows 4k chars max, the real limit will be 2k for double byte chars

Hope this helps

This error occurs when one attempts to use a varchar variable longer than 4000 bytes in an SQL statement. PL/SQL allows varchars up to 32767 bytes, but the limit for database tables and SQL language is 4000. You can't use PL/SQL variables that SQL doesn't recognize in SQL statements; an exception, as the message explains, is a direct insert into a long-type column.

create table test (v varchar2(10), c clob);


declare
  shortStr varchar2(10) := '0123456789';
  longStr1 varchar2(10000) := shortStr;
  longStr2 varchar2(10000);
begin
  for i in 1 .. 10000
  loop
    longStr2 := longStr2 || 'X';
  end loop;

  -- The following results in ORA-01461
  insert into test(v, c) values(longStr2, longStr2);

  -- This is OK; the actual length matters, not the declared one
  insert into test(v, c) values(longStr1, longStr1);

  -- This works, too (a direct insert into a clob column)
  insert into test(v, c) values(shortStr, longStr2);

  -- ORA-01461 again: You can't use longStr2 in an SQL function!
  insert into test(v, c) values(shortStr, substr(longStr2, 1, 4000));
end;

Ok, well, since you didn't show any code, I'll make a few assumptions here.

Based on the ORA-1461 error, it seems that you've specified a LONG datatype in a select statement? And you're trying to bind it to an output variable? Is that right? The error is pretty straight forward. You can only bind a LONG value for insert into LONG column.

Not sure what else to say. The error is fairly self-explanatory.

In general, it's a good idea to move away from LONG datatype to a CLOB. CLOBs are much better supported, and LONG datatypes really are only there for backward compatibility.

Here's a list of LONG datatype restrictions

Hope that helps.