Hi.

You can empty the pipe using DBMS_OUTPUT.get_line or DBMS_OUTPUT.get_lines. This is how SQL*Plus and other Oracle tools retrieve the server output.

A better approach is to wrap the output lines in your own procedure that can be switched off. That way you only put things on the pipe if you are using them. I use the following:

http://www.oracle-base.com/DBA/Miscellaneous/dsp.pks
http://www.oracle-base.com/DBA/Miscellaneous/dsp.pkb

It allows you to switch off output, output to files, output different datatypes and wrap output that is longer than 255 etc. Several people have similar code, but this is my take on it.

You should be able to replace your DBMS_OUTPUT calls with a simple search and replace then you're sorted.

Cheers