Glossary

BFILEs

External binary files that exist outside the database tablespaces residing in the operating system. BFILEs are referenced from the database semantics, and are also known as external LOBs.

Binary Large Object (BLOB)

A large object data type whose content consists of binary data. Additionally, this data is considered raw as its structure is not recognized by the database.

Character Large Object (CLOB)

The LOB data type whose value is composed of character data corresponding to the database character set. A CLOB may be indexed and searched by the Oracle Text search engine.

coordinated universal time (UTC)

UTC was formerly known as Greenwich Mean Time.

Large Object (LOB)

The class of SQL data type that is further divided into internal LOBs and external LOBs. Internal LOBs include BLOBs, CLOBs, and NCLOBs while external LOBs include BFILEs.

National Character Large Object (NCLOB)

The LOB data type whose value is composed of character data corresponding to the database national character set.

PL/SQL

Oracle procedural language extension to SQL.

primary key

The column or set of columns included in the definition of a table's PRIMARY KEY constraint.

UTC

UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) was formerly known as Greenwich Mean Time.