SQL*Plus
SQL*Plus is almost certain to be the first Oracle tool that comes to mind, and for good reason. SQL*Plus has been available since the earliest versions of Oracle, when it was called the User Friendly Interface (UFI). SQL*Plus is primarily an interface to the database that allows the execution of SQL statements, but it is also much more than that. SQL*Plus can execute the following types of statements:
- SQL
Corresponds to the ANSI SQL standard and Oracle extensions
- PL/SQL
A proprietary SQL language extension from Oracle
- SQL*Plus
A proprietary formatting and operational tool from Oracle
SQL*Plus can’t be easily categorized. Its behavior is probably closest to that of an interpreter, which means that it works with source statements directly without the need for separate compilation. SQL and PL/SQL statements are sent to the Oracle kernel, either locally or via SQL*Net, where they are parsed (a process similar to compilation) and executed. SQL*Plus statements are operated on and executed directly by the running copy of SQL*Plus.
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