This book is the definitive guide to SQLPlus. If you want to take best advantage of the power and flexibility of this popular Oracle tool, you need this book.SQLPlus is an interactive query tool that is ubiquitous in the Oracle world. It is present in every Oracle installation and is available to almost every Oracle developer and database administrator. SQLPlus has been shipped with Oracle since at least version 6. It continues to be supported and enhanced with each new version of Oracle, including Oracle8 and Oracle8i. It is still the only widely available tool for writing SQL scripts. Despite this wide availability and usage, few developers and DBAs know how powerful SQLPlus really is.This book introduces SQLPlus, includes a quick reference to all of its syntax options, and, most important, provides chapters that describe, in step-by-step fashion, how to perform all of the tasks that Oracle developers and DBAs want to perform with SQLPlus -- and maybe some they didn't realize they COULD perform with SQLPlus. You will learn how to write and execute script files, generate ad hoc reports, extract data from the database, query the data dictionary tables, customize your SQLPlus environment, and use the SQLPlus administrative features (new in Oracle8i).This book is an indispensable resource for readers who are new to SQLPlus, a task-oriented learning tool for those who are already using it, and a quick reference for every user.A table of contents follows:

• Preface
• Introduction to SQLPlus
• Interacting with SQLPlus
• Generating Reports with SQLPlus
• Writing SQLPlus Scripts
• Extracting Data with SQLPlus
• Exploring Your Database with SQLPlus
• Advanced Scripting
• Tuning and Timing
• The Product User Profile
• Administration with SQLPlus
• Customizing Your SQLPlus Environment

• A. SQLPlus Command Reference
• B. Connect Strings and the SQLPlus Command