This section describes what are CLOB (Character Large Object) data types and how to work with them.
CLOB (Character Large Object) is a large collection of character data stored in a database table. Different database servers handles
CLOB differently. But there are some common characteristics like:
CLOB stores character data, which requires a specific encoding schema.
For regular ASCII characters, the database default encoding schema is fine.
So you you don't need to worry.
CLOB data is usually large. Many database servers offer very high maximum sizes like 4 GB.
Operations on CLOB data is usually restricted. For example, LIKE may not be used on CLOB data.
CLOB data is usually not directly stored inside the table. It is stored in different storage areas
and its reference address is stored inside the table.
JDBC offers an interface, java.sql.Clob, to allow JDBC driver to provide generic functionalities
to handle CLOB data in the database.
CLOB data can also be handled as character strings with the java.lang.String class.
CLOB data can also be handled as character streams with the java.io.Reader class.
