Oracle

SQL*Plus®

User’s Guide and Reference

Release 8.1.6

October, 1999 Part No. A75664-01

SQL*Plus User’s Guide and Reference, Release 8.1.6 Part No. A75664-01 Copyright © 1996, 1999, Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved. Contributing Authors: Larry Baer, Lisa Colston, Roland Kovacs, Karen Denchfield-Masterson, Alison Holloway, Sanjeev Jhala, Christopher Jones, Anita Lam, NimishMehta, Luan Nim, Bud Osterberg, Irene Paradisis, Richard Rendell, Frank Rovitto, Farokh Shapoorjee, Larry Stevens, Andre Touma, Simon Watt The Programs (which include both the software and documentation) contain proprietary information of Oracle Corporation; they are provided under a license agreement containing restrictions on use and disclosure and are also protected by copyright, patent,and other intellectual and industrial property laws. Reverse engineering, disassembly, or decompilation of the Programs is prohibited. The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice. If you find any problems in the documentation, please report them to us in writing. Oracle Corporation does not warrant that this document is error free. Except as may be expresslypermitted in your license agreement for these Programs, no part of these Programs may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of Oracle Corporation. If the Programs are delivered to the U.S. Government or anyone licensing or using the programs on behalf of the U.S. Government, the followingnotice is applicable: Restricted Rights Notice Programs delivered subject to the DOD FAR Supplement are "commercial computer software" and use, duplication, and disclosure of the Programs including documentation, shall be subject to the licensing restrictions set forth in the applicable Oracle license agreement. Otherwise, Programs delivered subject to the Federal Acquisition Regulations are"restricted computer software" and use, duplication and disclosure of the Programs shall be subject to the restrictions in FAR 52.227-19, Commercial Computer Software - Restricted Rights (June, 1987). Oracle Corporation, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood City, CA 94065. The Programs are not intended for use in any nuclear, aviation, mass transit, medical, or other inherently dangerousapplications. It shall be the licensee's responsibility to take all appropriate fail-safe, back up, redundancy, and other measures to ensure the safe use of such applications if the Programs are used for such purposes, and Oracle disclaims liability for any damages caused by such use of the Programs. Oracle is a registered trademark, and JDeveloper, Oracle Designer, Oracle Developer, Oracle Discoverer,Oracle7, Oracle8, Oracle8i, Oracle Media Objects, Oracle Mobile Agents, Oracle Application Server, PL/SQL, Oracle Programmer, SQL*Forms, Net8 and SQL*Plus are trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation. All other company or product names mentioned are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Contents
Send Us Your Comments................................................................................................................... xi Preface........................................................................................................................................................... xiii Part I 1 Understanding SQL*Plus

Introduction
Overview ofSQL*Plus....................................................................................................................... Basic Concepts............................................................................................................................... Who Can Use SQL*Plus............................................................................................................... Other Ways of Working with Oracle...