Oracle DBA FAQ - Introduction to Command-Line SQL*Plus Client Tool

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A collection of 25 FAQs on Oracle command-line SQL*Plus client tool. Clear answers are provided with tutorial exercises on creating tnsnames.ora and connecting to Oracle servers; SQL*Plus settings and environment variables; saving query output to files; getting query performance reports. Topics included in this FAQ are:

What Is SQL*Plus?
How To Start the Command-Line SQL*Plus?
How To Get Help at the SQL Prompt?
What Information Is Needed to Connect SQL*Plus an Oracle Server?
What Is a Connect Identifier?
How To Connect a SQL*Plus Session to an Oracle Server?
What Happens If You Use a Wrong Connect Identifier?
What To Do If DBA Lost the SYSTEM Password?
What Types of Commands Can Be Executed in SQL*Plus?
How To Run SQL Commands in SQL*Plus?
How To Run PL/SQL Statements in SQL*Plus?
How To Change SQL*Plus System Settings?
How To Look at the Current SQL*Plus System Settings?
What Are SQL*Plus Environment Variables?
How To Generate Query Output in HTML Format?
What Is Output Spooling in SQL*Plus?
How To Save Query Output to a Local File?
What Is Input Buffer in SQL*Plus?
How To Revise and Re-Run the Last SQL Command?
How Run SQL*Plus Commands That Are Stored in a Local File?
How To Use SQL*Plus Built-in Timers?
What Is Oracle Server Autotrace?
How To Set Up Autotrace for a User Account?
How To Get Execution Path Reports on Query Statements?
How To Get Execution Statistics Reports on Query Statements?

What Is SQL*Plus?

SQL*Plus is an interactive and batch query tool that is installed with every Oracle Database Server or Client installation. It has a command-line user interface, a Windows Graphical User Interface (GUI) and the iSQL*Plus web-based user interface.

SQL*Plus has its own commands and environment, and it provides access to the Oracle Database. It enables you to enter and execute SQL, PL/SQL, SQL*Plus and operating system commands to perform the following:

Format, perform calculations on, store, and print from query results
Examine table and object definitions
Develop and run batch scripts
Perform database administration

You can use SQL*Plus to generate reports interactively, to generate reports as batch processes, and to output the results to text file, to screen, or to HTML file for browsing on the Internet. You can generate reports dynamically using the HTML output facility of SQL*Plus, or using the dynamic reporting capability of iSQL*Plus to run a script from a web page.

How To Start the Command-Line SQL*Plus?

If you Oracle server or client installed on your windows system, you can start the command-line SQL*Plus in two ways:

1. Click Start > All Programs > Oracle ... > Start SQL Command Line. The SQL*Plus command window will show up with a message like this:

SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Production on Tue ...

Copyright (c) 1982, 2005, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

SQL>

2. Click Start > Run..., enter "cmd" and click OK. A Windows command window will show up. You can then use Windows commands to start the command-line SQL*Plus as shown in the tutorial exercise below:

>cd c:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\10.2.0\server\
>.\bin\sqlplus /nolog
SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Production on Tue ...

Copyright (c) 1982, 2005, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

SQL>

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