BLOBDUMP

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Places the contents of a BLOB column in a named file for reading or editing.

 BLOBDUMP blob_id filename;
Argument Description

<blob_id>

System-assigned hexadecimal identifier, made up of two hexadecimal numbers separated by a colon (:)

  • First number is the ID of the table containing the BLOB column
  • Second number is a sequential number identifying a particular instance of Blob data

<filename>

Name of the file into which to place Blob contents

Description: BLOBDUMP stores Blob data identified by <blob_id> in the file specified by <­filename>. Because binary files cannot be displayed, BLOBDUMP is useful for viewing or editing binary data. BLOBDUMP is also useful for saving blocks of text (Blob data) to a file.

To determine the blob_id to supply in the BLOBDUMP statement, issue any SELECT statement that selects a column of Blob data. When the table’s columns appear, any Blob columns contain hexadecimal Blob IDs. The display of Blob output can be controlled using SET BLOBDISPLAY.

Example: Suppose that Blob ID 58:c59 refers to graphical data in JPEG format. To place this Blob data into a graphics file named picture.jpg, enter:

BLOBDUMP 58:c59 picture.jpg;

See Also