Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition

Executing a Script

Most of this chapter has focused on what you need to know to enter a command directly into SQL*Plus and have it executed. Another option available to you is to have SQL*Plus execute a script, which is simply a text file that contains one or more statements to execute. When SQL*Plus executes a script, the commands or statements in the file are executed just as if you had typed them in directly from the keyboard. A script file can contain any combination of valid SQL*Plus commands, SQL statements, or PL/SQL blocks.

Let's say you have a file named ex2-17.sql, and it contains the following SQL*Plus commands:

SET ECHO ON


DESCRIBE employee
DESCRIBE project
DESCRIBE project_hours

You can execute this file using the @ command, as shown in Example 2-17. Type an @ character, follow it by the path to the script you wish to execute, and press Enter.

Example 2-17. Executing a SQL*Plus script

SQL> @$HOME/sqlplus/ExampleScripts/ex2-17 SQL> DESCRIBE employee Name Null? Type ----------------------------------------- -------- ---------------- EMPLOYEE_ID NOT NULL NUMBER EMPLOYEE_NAME VARCHAR2(40) EMPLOYEE_HIRE_DATE DATE EMPLOYEE_TERMINATION_DATE DATE EMPLOYEE_BILLING_RATE NUMBER(5,2) SQL> DESCRIBE project Name Null? Type ----------------------------------------- -------- ---------------- PROJECT_ID NOT NULL NUMBER(4) PROJECT_NAME VARCHAR2(40) PROJECT_BUDGET NUMBER(9,2) SQL> DESCRIBE project_hours Name Null? Type ----------------------------------------- -------- ---------------- ...