Re: Installing Oracle 11.5.8 on Mandrake

On Thu, 03 Aug 2006 17:32:35 -0400, Shawn Hirn <srhi_at_comcast.net> wrote:

>In article <3EF75784.9040004_at_netscape.net>,
> Frank <fvanbortel_at_netscape.net> wrote:
>
>> Dave Williams wrote:
>> > Frank,
>> >
>> > Don't you like a challenge then ? Besides, Mandrake is now the most popular
>> > flavour of Linux.
>>
>> I won't go into that discussion
>>
>> >
>> > Also, installation instructions were followed and kernel settings changed
>> > :-)
>>
>> OK - I was just shring some knowledge that might help you
>> >
>> > As a further FYI, I figured out a way to work around this issue.
>>
>> Care to share?
>>
>> <snip!>
>
>I am stumped. I am a very very new Oracle user. A colleague put the
>Oracle 10g client on my workstation (Windows XP) this afternoon. I was
>able to start the client and access a remote database that was created
>as a test bed for me. I was able to create a simple table with four
>columns. Now, I have a text file, delimited by semicolons, that I want
>to import into the table that I created via SQL*Plus, but figuring out
>how to do that seems to be a real challenge.
>
>I have been googling for a solution to this problem, but all I find is
>something about an SQL Loader, which I cannot find on my PC. I do not
>have discs to load it, all I have is what was loaded on my PC.
>

In previous editions of Oracle sqlldr.exe (or sqlloader) was only included with the *administrator* client, not with the normal client. However, sql*loader is going to work only if the input is *on the server*

>Isn't there a way to use the insert statement from within SQL*Plus that
>does something along the lines of
>
>insert into table x from file y delimited by ';'
>(field1, field2, field3, field4);
>
>?
>

You could set up an external table. But then again, the input file again needs to be on the server.
If you don't want that, Oracle has a free tool (on http://otn.oracle.com) called 'Oracle Application Express' that will allow you to upload csv files via your browser.

>I don't care about insert performance. This table was built without any
>constraints or indexes. Its just two varchar2(20) columns and two number
>columns, so its about as simple as one can get.
>
>Do I really need a separate utility to do this task, or is there some
>way to do it entirely within SQL*Plus via insert or some other command?
>Also, how do I use the help feature in SQL*Plus? If I type "help insert"
>it says invalid topic and if I type "help" it says I can get help on a
>topic? How exactly does this help feature work? Its not very helpful!

There is help in sql*plus on sql*plus itself. There is *no help* on SQL as that would be *huge*.
There is a SQL reference manual (and many other volumes of documentation) up on http://tahiti.oracle.com Info on Sql*loader and external tables is in the Oracle Server Utilities Manual.

--
Sybrand Bakker, Senior Oracle DBA