CLOBlist - CLOB list aggregation function for SQL. Similar to LISTAGG, but simpler syntax, and can suppress duplicates.

CLOBlist.sql

------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Program  : CLOBlist 
-- Name     : CLOB list 
-- Author   : Peter Burgess
-- Purpose  : CLOB list aggregation function for SQL
-- RETURNS CLOB - to allow for more than 4000 chars to be returned by SQL
-- NEW type CLOBlistParam  - allows for definition of the delimiter, and initiator of sequence
------------------------------------------------------------------
--This is an aggregating function for use in SQL.
--It takes the argument and creates a comma delimited list of each instance.

WHENEVER SQLERROR CONTINUE
DROP TYPE CLOBlistImpl;
WHENEVER SQLERROR EXIT FAILURE ROLLBACK

create or replace type CLOBlistParam as object(
  string    VARCHAR2(4000)
 ,delimiter VARCHAR2(100)  
 ,initiator VARCHAR2(100)  
 ,no_dup    VARCHAR2(1)    )
/
show error
 
--Creating CLOBlist()
--Implement the type CLOBlistImpl to contain the ODCIAggregate routines.
create or replace type CLOBlistImpl as object
(
  g_list CLOB, -- progressive concatenation
  static function ODCIAggregateInitialize(sctx IN OUT CLOBlistImpl)
    return number,
  member function ODCIAggregateIterate(self  IN OUT CLOBlistImpl
                                     , value IN     CLOBlistParam) return number,
  member function ODCIAggregateTerminate(self        IN  CLOBlistImpl
                                       , returnValue OUT CLOB
                                       , flags       IN  number) return number,
  member function ODCIAggregateMerge(self IN OUT CLOBlistImpl
                                   , ctx2 IN     CLOBlistImpl) return number
)
/
show error


--Implement the type body for CLOBlistImpl.
create or replace type body CLOBlistImpl is
static function ODCIAggregateInitialize(sctx IN OUT CLOBlistImpl)
return number is
begin

  sctx := CLOBlistImpl(TO_CHAR(NULL));
  return ODCIConst.Success;
end;

member function ODCIAggregateIterate(self  IN OUT CLOBlistImpl
                                   , value IN     CLOBlistParam) return number is
begin

   IF self.g_list IS NULL THEN
     self.g_list := value.initiator||value.string;
   ELSIF value.no_dup = 'Y' AND
         value.delimiter||self.g_list||value.delimiter LIKE '%'||value.delimiter||value.string||value.delimiter||'%' 
         THEN
     --Do not include duplicate value    
     NULL;
  ELSE
     self.g_list := self.g_list||value.delimiter||value.string;
   END IF;
 
  return ODCIConst.Success;
end;

member function ODCIAggregateTerminate(self        IN  CLOBlistImpl
                                     , returnValue OUT CLOB
                                     , flags       IN  number) return number is
begin
  returnValue := self.g_list;
  return ODCIConst.Success;
end;

member function ODCIAggregateMerge(self IN OUT CLOBlistImpl
                                 , ctx2 IN     CLOBlistImpl) return number is
begin

  self.g_list := LTRIM( self.g_list||','||ctx2.g_list,',');

  return ODCIConst.Success;
end;
end;
/
show error

--Using CLOBlist() to create a vertical list of comma separated values

--  SELECT CLOBlist(CLOBlistParam(product_code,chr(10)||',','','Y'))
--  FROM   account


--DROP FUNCTION CLOBlist
--/

PROMPT Create the user-defined aggregate.
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION CLOBlist (input CLOBlistParam) RETURN CLOB
PARALLEL_ENABLE AGGREGATE USING CLOBlistImpl;
/
show error

Explanation
CLOBlist takes contructor CLOBlistParam as a parameter.
CLOBlistParam has 4 arguments

• string VARCHAR2(4000) - The variable to be aggregated
• delimiter VARCHAR2(100) - The delimiting string
• initiator VARCHAR2(100) - An initial string added before the first value only.
• no_dup VARCHAR2(1) - A flag. Duplicates are suppressed if this is Y

Example usage
--vertical list of comma separated values, no duplicates.
SELECT CLOBlist(CLOBlistParam(column_name,chr(10)||',','','Y')) FROM user_tab_columns
--simple csv
SELECT CLOBlist(CLOBlistParam(table_name,',','','N')) FROM user_tables