SQL*Plus is an interactive query tool that's available at every Oracle site, from the largest data warehouse to the smallest single-user system. The tool continues to be supported and enhanced with each new version of Oracle, including Oracle Database 10g. Yet despite the wide availability and use of SQL*Plus, few Oracle developers and DBAs know how powerful a tool SQL*Plus can be.

Updated thoroughly for Oracle Database 10g and Oracle9i Database, this bestselling book is truly a definitive guide. It describes SQL*Plus from start to finish and provides a quick reference to all of the tool's commands and options. Most importantly, it describes, in step-by-step fashion, how to perform all of the tasks you could possibly want to perform with SQL*Plus. You'll learn how to interact with SQL*Plus via both the command line and your web browser, write and execute script files, generate reports, extract and load data, query data dictionary tables, customize your SQL*Plus environment, and much more.

The second edition contains new information on generating HTML reports from SQL*Plus using the iSQL browser-based tool, loading data via the external table mechanism introduced in Oracle9z Database, and taking advantage of all of the new Oracle9i/10g syntax. A newly written tutorial chapter on SQL is designed to get you up and running quickly in the language you'll most often use from within SQL*Plus. With more than 50,000 copies in print worldwide, Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide is an indispensable resource for readers who are new to SQL*Plus, a task-oriented learning tool for those who are already using it, and a quick reference for every user.

"As a longtime SQL*Plus user and proponent, I can honestly say I learned a thing or two from this book myself. If you are serious about learning the command-line interface to the Oracle database (a vital piece of knowledge, in my opinion and experience), this is the bookforyou.lt covers everything from the basics-just getting started-to many of the advanced features. Well done."
Thomas Kyte, VP Core Technology-Oracle Corporation, asktom.oracle.com

"If you think, as I do, that command lines are still the most productive, ubiquitous, and flexible working environment, you'll find this to be the book about using Oracle's command-line tool, SQL *Plus. The second edition is even better than the first. I hope you will enjoy reading it and learn from it, as I did."
GregorTheis, OCP DBA, Sun SCSA, independent Oracle database consultant

• Introduction to SQL*Plus
• Command-Line SQL*Plus
• Browser-Based SQL*Plus
• A Lightning SQL Tutorial
• Generating Reports with SQL*Plus
• Creating HTML Reports
• Advanced Reports
• Writing SQL*Plus Scripts
• Extracting and Loading Data
• Exploring Your Database
• Advanced Scripting
• Tuning and Timing
• The Product User Profile
• Customizing Your SQL*Plus Environment
• A: SQL*Plus Command Reference
• B: SQL*Plus Format Elements