I'm thinking along the same lines as Riyaj. In addition to Riyaj's question, what's the value of NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS? -Mark -- Mark J. Bobak Senior Database Administrator, System & Product Technologies ProQuest 789 E. Eisenhower, Parkway, P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 +1.734.997.4059 or +1.800.521.0600 x 4059 mark.bobak@xxxxxxxxxxxx www.proquest.com www.csa.com ProQuest...Start here. -----Original Message----- From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Riyaj Shamsudeen Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 9:55 AM To: pjhoraclel@xxxxxxxxx Cc: oracle-l Subject: Re: Odd virtual column error Hi Peter I can't be sure, but this is probably due to your database characterset. What is your database characterset ? Following query can be used to retrieve database characterset. select * from v$nls_parameters where parameter='NLS_CHARACTERSET'; Cheers Riyaj The Pythian Group http://www.pythian.com Personal : http://orainternals.wordpress.com Peter Hitchman wrote: > Hi, > Oracle version 11.1.0.6 <http://11.1.0.6> > > Any ideas why when I run this ddl: > > CREATE TABLE PILOT1_METADATA > ( > PATENT_SK NUMBER(9) NOT NULL > ,COLLECTION_ID VARCHAR2(8) NOT NULL > ,PDOC_COUNTRY CHAR(2) NOT NULL > ,PDOC_SERIAL NUMBER(12) NOT NULL > ,PDOC_KIND VARCHAR2(2) NOT NULL > ,KI_SHORT CHAR(4) GENERATED ALWAYS AS (SUBSTR(PDOC_KIND,1,1)) VIRTUAL > ,PUBLICATION_DATE DATE NOT NULL > ,PUBLICATION_WEEK NUMBER(6) NOT NULL > ,PUBLICATION_YEAR NUMBER(4) NOT NULL > ,APPLICATION_NUMBER VARCHAR2(15) NOT NULL > ,APPLICATION_DATE DATE NOT NULL > ,STATUS VARCHAR2(3) > ,MOD_DATE DATE > ) > / > > the result is: > > ORA-12899: value too large for column "KI_SHORT" (actual: 1, maximum: 4) > > I changed the column definition of PDOC_KIND to CHAR(4) and the table > builds and then an insert creates the correct virtual data. > > Thanks > > Pete > > -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l