SQL data types

SQL data types can be directly used in PL/SQL. However, the maximum length of some variables is slightly different from that in SQL.

The following table lists the data types whose maximum lengths are different in PL/SQL and SQL:

If the assigned value exceeds the defined length of a variable, an exception will be thrown.

obclient> DECLARE
     mychar VARCHAR2(3 CHAR);
  BEGIN
     mychar := 'abc ';
  END;
   /
OBE-06502: PL/SQL: numeric or value error

For string-type objects, you can use the RTRIM() function to remove trailing spaces, as shown in the following example:

obclient> DECLARE
    mychar VARCHAR2(3 CHAR);
BEGIN
    mychar := rtrim('abc ');
END;
/
Query OK, 0 rows affected