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

Name

SET PAUSE

Synopsis

The PAUSE setting pauses SQL*Plus after each page of output when displaying rows returned by a query.

Syntax

SET PAU[SE] {ON | OFF | pause_message}

Parameters

SET PAU[SE]

Is the command, which may be abbreviated SET PAU.

ON

Causes SQL*Plus to pause after each page of output. The user must press Enter to continue to the next page.

OFF

Turns off the pause feature. This is the default setting.

pause_message

Provides a message for SQL*Plus to display after each page when prompting the user to continue. This doesn't turn on the pause feature. You must issue a separate SET PAUSE ON command to do that.

Examples

The following example shows how the pause feature works:

SQL> SET PAGESIZE 10
SQL> SET PAUSE ON
SQL> SET PAUSE "Press ENTER to continue . . . "
SQL> SELECT view_name FROM all_views;
Press ENTER to continue . . .
VIEW_NAME
------------------------------
ALL_ALL_TABLES
ALL_ARGUMENTS
ALL_CATALOG
ALL_CLUSTERS
ALL_CLUSTER_HASH_EXPRESSIONS
ALL_COLL_TYPES
ALL_COL_COMMENTS
Press ENTER to continue . . .

The PAGESIZE setting controls the number of lines printed on a page. In this example, PAGESIZE was set to 10, so SQL*Plus paused after every 10 lines of output.