TO_MULTI_BYTE
Syntax
Purpose
TO_MULTI_BYTE returns char with all of its single-byte characters converted to their corresponding multibyte characters. char can be of data type CHAR, VARCHAR2, NCHAR, or NVARCHAR2. The value returned is in the same data type as char.
Any single-byte characters in char that have no multibyte equivalents appear in the output string as single-byte characters. This function is useful only if your database character set contains both single-byte and multibyte characters.
This function does not support CLOB data directly. However, CLOBs can be passed in as arguments through implicit data conversion.
See Also:
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"Data Type Comparison Rules" for more information.
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Appendix C in Oracle Database Globalization Support Guide for the collation derivation rules, which define the collation assigned to the character return value of
TO_MULTI_BYTE
Examples
The following example illustrates converting from a single byte A to a multibyte A in UTF8:
SELECT dump(TO_MULTI_BYTE( 'A')) FROM DUAL;
DUMP(TO_MULTI_BYTE('A'))
------------------------
Typ=1 Len=3: 239,188,161