Oracle SQL Plus Pocket Reference

Jonathan Gennick is an O'Reilly & Associates editor specializing in database and programming titles. Prior to joining O'Reilly, Jonathan amassed some 17 years of programming and database management experience. During the latter part of his career he specialized in relational database programming, and more recently in database management.Jonathan got his start with relational database systems in 1990, first working with Ingres, and later with Digital's Rdb software. During that period he developed a fondness for SQL, and for the challenge of applying SQL creatively in ways that leveraged it's set-oriented capabilities.In 1994 Jonathan made the leap to Oracle, and is now often found writing about it. Recent projects include Oracle SQL*Loader (O'Reilly & Associates, 2001); Oracle SQL*Plus Pocket Reference (O'Reilly & Associates, 2000); Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide (O'Reilly & Associates, 1999); More recently, Jonathan has made forays into other database products, coauthoring Transact-SQL Cookbook (O'Reilly & Associates, 2002) and editing Practical PostgreSQL (O'Reilly & Associates, 2002). Jonathan is certified as an Oracle DBA and is a member of MENSA and the Oracle Technology Network. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Information and Computer Science, with a Business Administration minor, from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Jonathan currently resides in Munising, Michigan with his wife Donna and their two children: Jenny and Jeff. Jonathan may be contacted by email at jonathan@gennick.com, and you can learn more about him personally by visiting his website at http://gennick.com.

Introduction Command-Line SQL*Plus Starting SQL*Plus Entering Commands Strings in SQL*Plus Commands Specifying Filenames Naming Variables Browser-Based SQL*Plus Starting and Stopping iSQL*Plus Connecting to iSQL*Plus Connecting to a Database Connecting as SYSDBA Creating SYSDBA Users; Entering and Executing Commands Getting Output as Plain Text; Executing Scripts Disconnecting from iSQL*Plus Selecting Data The SELECT Statement Nulls CASE Expressions; Table Joins (Oracle8i and Earlier) Table Joins (Oracle9i and Higher) Partition Outer Joins Summary Queries Unions; Partition Operations Flashback Queries Modeling Data; MODEL Clause Syntax MODEL Clause Functions MODEL Clause Example Inserting Data Inserting One Row Inserting the Results of a Query Multitable Inserts (Oracle9i and Higher); Updating Data Simple Updates Noncorrelated Subqueries in the SET Clause Correlated Subqueries in the SET Clause Deleting Data Simple Deletes Deleting All Rows (TRUNCATE) Deleting Duplicate Rows Merging Data (Oracle9i and Higher) Transaction Management SET TRANSACTION SAVEPOINT COMMIT ROLLBACK; Formatting Text Reports Column Headings Column Formats; Page Width and Length Page Headers and Footers Page Breaks; Report Breaks Formatting HTML Reports The Concatenation Approach Generating Full Pages Tuning SQL Creating the Plan Table Explaining a Query Using DBMS_XPLAN Querying the Plan Table Using Optimizer Hints SQL*Plus Format Elements Formatting Numbers Formatting Character Strings; Formatting Dates SQL*Plus Command Reference Index