Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide
Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition By Jonathan Gennick
November 2004
Pages: 582

| Table of Contents | Index | Sample Chapter | Colophon

Table of Contents

  1. Chapter 1 Introduction to SQL*Plus

    1. What Is SQL*Plus?

    2. History of SQL*Plus

    3. Why Master SQL*Plus?

    4. Creating and Loading the Sample Tables

  2. Chapter 2 Command-Line SQL*Plus

    1. Starting Command-Line SQL*Plus

    2. Starting Windows SQL*Plus

    3. Some Basic SQL*Plus Commands

    4. Running SQL Queries

    5. Working with PL/SQL

    6. The SQL Buffer

    7. Line Editing

    8. Executing the Statement in the Buffer

    9. Saving and Retrieving the Buffer

    10. The EDIT Command

    11. Executing a Script

    12. The Working Directory

  3. Chapter 3 Browser-Based SQL*Plus

    1. Starting iSQL*Plus

    2. Executing SQL*Plus Commands

    3. Running SQL Queries

    4. Working with PL/SQL

    5. Executing Scripts

    6. iSQL*Plus Command History

  4. Chapter 4 A Lightning SQL Tutorial

    1. Data Manipulation Statements

    2. Transactions

    3. The Concept of Null

    4. Table Joins

    5. Sorting Query Results

    6. Grouping and Summarizing

    7. Subqueries

    8. Unions

    9. To Learn More

  5. Chapter 5 Generating Reports with SQL*Plus

    1. Following a Methodology

    2. Saving Your Work

    3. Designing a Simple Report

    4. Master/Detail Reports

  6. Chapter 6 Creating HTML Reports

    1. Getting the Data into an HTML Table

    2. Generating the Entire Page

    3. Another Approach to Headers

    4. Master/Detail Reports in HTML

  7. Chapter 7 Advanced Reports

    1. Totals and Subtotals

    2. Getting the Current Date into a Header

    3. Report Headers and Footers

    4. Formatting Object Columns

    5. Summary Reports

    6. Taking Advantage of Unions

  8. Chapter 8 Writing SQL*Plus Scripts

    1. Why Write Scripts?

    2. Using Substitution Variables

    3. Prompting for Values

    4. Cleaning Up the Display

    5. Executing a Script

    6. Controlling Variable Substitution

    7. Commenting Your Scripts

    8. Resetting Your SQL*Plus Environment

    9. Scripting Issues with iSQL*Plus

  9. Chapter 9 Extracting and Loading Data

    1. Types of Output Files

    2. Limitations of SQL*Plus

    3. Extracting the Data

    4. An Excel-Specific HTML Hack

    5. Reloading the Data

  10. Chapter 10 Exploring Your Database

    1. The DESCRIBE Command

    2. Oracle's Data Dictionary Views

    3. Tables

    4. Table Constraints

    5. Indexes

    6. Triggers

    7. Synonyms

    8. Table Security

    9. Scripting the Data Dictionary

    10. Using SQL to Write SQL

    11. The Master Key

  11. Chapter 11 Advanced Scripting

    1. Bind Variables

    2. Branching in SQL*Plus

    3. Looping in SQL*Plus

    4. Validating and Parsing User Input

    5. Error Handling

    6. Returning Values to Unix

  12. Chapter 12 Tuning and Timing

    1. Using SQL*Plus Timers

    2. Using EXPLAIN PLAN

    3. Using AUTOTRACE

    4. Improving on EXPLAIN PLAN Results

    5. Where to Find More Tuning Information

  13. Chapter 13 The Product User Profile

    1. What Is the Product User Profile?

    2. Using the Product User Profile

  14. Chapter 14 Customizing Your SQL*Plus Environment

    1. SQL*Plus Settings You Can Control

    2. The Site and User Profiles

    3. Environment Variables That Affect SQL*Plus

    4. Windows GUI SQL*Plus

    5. iSQL*Plus User Preferences

  1. Appendix A SQL*Plus Command Reference

    1. The Command to Invoke SQL*Plus

    2. Commands You Can Issue Within SQL*Plus

  2. Appendix B SQL*Plus Format Elements

    1. Formatting Numbers

    2. Formatting Character Strings

    3. Formatting Dates

  3. Colophon

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