Oracle SQL∗Plus Pocket Reference 2e - Softcover

Gennick, Jonathan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0596004419 ISBN 13: 9780596004415

Publisher: O′Reilly, 2003

Synopsis

SQLPlus is available at every Oracle site--from the largest data warehouse to the smallest single-user system--and it's a critical tool for virtually every Oracle user. Despite its wide use, few developers and DBAs know how powerful a tool SQLPlus can be.This pocket reference provides quick reference information that will help you use SQLPlus, Oracle's interactive query tool. It summarizes all of the SQLPlus syntax, including the syntax for the Oracle9i release. This book boils down the most vital information from Gennick's best-selling book, "Oracle SQL8Plus: The Definitive Guide", into an accessible summary and works as a vital companion to the larger book. It concisely describes interacting with SQLPlus, selecting data, formatting reports with SQLPlus, and tuning SQL queries. It also contains quick references to the SQLPlus commands and format elements.The new 2nd edition of our Oracle SQLPlus Pocket Reference includes many new features for Oracle9i (e.g., COALESCE function, searched CASE expressions, new table join syntax, partition operations, MERGE statement, and syntax changes in existing SQLPlus statements such as ACCEPT, DESRIBE, HELP, and SET) It also adds sections on basic SQL (a much-requested feature): INSERT, DELETE, UPDATE, SELECT, and transaction management. The pocket reference size is especially appropriate for this particular subject, since Oracle SQLPlus is used on every possible platform, it's particularly convenient to be able to carry a small book around from office computer to home computer to laptop.

About this title

Review

This small slim volume is a concise guide to using Oracle's SQL*Plus tool which acts as a front-end to the SQL querying language. Oracle SQL*Plus Pocket Reference does not attempt to teach you how to use the language but provides a quick reference to the commands available and the ways in which they can be pressed into service.

It's terse but informative, as befits a pocket guide, and so small that the usually entertaining O'Reilly colophon is omitted--which is a shame. The first half covers basic interactions such as string handling and naming variables, moving on to deal with selecting data, formatting reports and tuning SQL statements plus a section on formatting elements that let you do almost anything with number and date displays, including showing dates with a BC or AD indicator. In the tuning section there is brief coverage of execution plans for SQL statements and of how to tune the Oracle optimiser that puts those plans into operation. The second half forms the SQL command reference section, everything from ACCEPT to WHENEVER.

This eminently pocketable reference book would be invaluable for jogging the memory in those odd moments of blankness-- and it's almost palmable if you're shy about admitting fallibility. --Mark Whitehorn

Review

This information alone makes the book a must-have reference for any Oracle user. -- Oracle Magazine, Feb 2003

Edition details

• Publisher: O′Reilly
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0596004419
• ISBN 13: 9780596004415
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 113