LONG and LONG RAW

You use the LONG datatype to store the variable-length character strings. The LONG datatype is such as the VARCHAR2 datatype, except that the maximum length of a LONG value is 32760 bytes.

You use the LONG RAW datatype to store the binary data or byte strings. The LONG RAW data is like a LONG data, except that the LONG RAW data is not interpreted by the PL/SQL. The highest length of a LONG RAW value is 32760 bytes.

You can insert any LONG value into a LONG database column as the maximum width of a LONG column is 2147483647 bytes. Though, you cannot retrieve a value bigger than 32760 bytes from a LONG column into a LONG variable.

RAW

You use the RAW datatype to store the byte strings or binary data. For example, a RAW variable might store a sequence of graphics characters or a digitized picture. The Raw data is like the VARCHAR2 data, except that PL/SQL does not interpret the raw data.

The RAW datatype takes a required parameter that lets you specify a highest length of up to 32767 bytes. The syntax is as shown below:

RAW(maximum_length)

You cannot use a variable or constant to specify the maximum length; you should use an integer literal in the range 1 to 32767.