Error: ORA-06502: PL/SQL: numeric or value error: host bind array too small - oracle

Question

I want to understand when this oracle error occurs 'Error: ORA-06502: PL/SQL: numeric or value error: host bind array too small'
I have a plsql block and it has a normal annonymus block which has DBMS_output.put_line and also has DBMS_output.put in a for loop and in the code its calls another package in for loop itself and the out variables like success( as S) and errormessage (as err_msg) of package are displayed using DBMS_output.put and the out put gets printed for few records but suddenly a above error occurs and blocks gets completed don't how this happemed. Can any one explain why such error occurs.

Answer 1

The error occurs on the client-side, not on the server-side, so it's an error with specific versions of sqlplus. It happens when sqlplus utility tries to read the dbms_output buffer from the server-side to the client-side buffer, and the buffer contains a string that is more than 255 characters long. So error happens when:
you are using sqlplus with version less than 10.2 and the version of Database server is 10.2 or higher. For example:
client is 10.1.0.5 and server is 12.2.9
client is 10.1.0.5 and server is 10.2.0.5
client is 10.1.0.5 and server is 11.2.0.1
the serveroutput on option is set
you have put a line with more than 255 characters into the dbms_output buffer.
Please, note that if your server is 10.1.0.5 or less (9.2.0.8) you would get different error: ORA-20000: ORU-10028: line length overflow, limit of 255 chars per line.
Demo
Put 256 characters and we get the error:
SET SERVEROUTPUT ON
begin
dbms_output.put_line(a => rpad('1',256,'1'));
end;
/
ERROR:
ORA-06502: PL/SQL: numeric or value error: host bind array too small
ORA-06512: at line 1
Or you can do it in a slightly different way:
SET SERVEROUTPUT ON
begin
dbms_output.put(a => rpad('1',200,'1'));
dbms_output.put(a => rpad('1',200,'1'));
dbms_output.put_line('');
end;
/
ERROR:
ORA-06502: PL/SQL: numeric or value error: host bind array too small
ORA-06512: at line 1
Put 255 characters and it' ok we get the output:
SET SERVEROUTPUT ON
begin
dbms_output.put_line(a => rpad('1',255,'1'));
end;
/
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
111111111111111
How to solve
Option 1:
Oracle fixed the error in the 10.2 release, so if you upgrade your server-side and the client-side components to at least 10.2.0.5, the error will be fixed.
Option 2:
If you absolutely have to use 10.1 version or older versions of sqlplus (and version of Database is 10.2 or higher) and you cannot rewrite your pl/sql code that generates long characters string, then you can work around this bug using dbms_output.get_lines (or dbms_output.get_line) procedures:
SET SERVEROUTPUT OFF
begin
-- enable the server-side buffer. When SET SERVEROUTPUT ON sqlplus does it automatically.
-- Now we do it manually.
dbms_output.enable(1000000);
dbms_output.put_line(a => rpad('1',300,'1'));
end;
/
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
Then use this block just to get the content of the buffer:
variable l_cursor REFCURSOR
set autoprint on
declare
-- Then use this block to get the contents of the buffer.
l number:=10000;
l_array DBMSOUTPUT_LINESARRAY;
begin
dbms_output.get_lines(l_array,l);
open :l_cursor for select * from table(l_array);
end;
/
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
COLUMN_VALUE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

Answer 2

usually this error will occur when you either try to set a variable with too big a value. for instance.
v_number number(2);
BEGIN
v_number := 100;
END;
or when you try to save text into a number variable
v_number number(2);
BEGIN
v_number := 'a';
END;
see here for more info: https://www.techonthenet.com/oracle/errors/ora06502.php