If you are using Oracle database, at some point you might have to deal with uploading data to the tables from a text file. This article provides 10 practic. For complete details on using SQL*Loader, see. Install Oracle Database 11g R2 on Linux - (RHEL 6) by Jeff Hunter, Sr. Database Administrator Contents. Introduction; Example Configuration.

SQL*Loader Concepts. This chapter explains the basic concepts of loading data into an Oracle database with SQL*Loader. This chapter covers the following topics: SQL*Loader Features. SQL*Loader loads data from external files into tables of an Oracle database. It has a powerful data parsing engine that puts little limitation on the format of the data in the datafile. You can use SQL*Loader to do the following: Load data across a network. This means that you can run the SQL*Loader client on a different system from the one that is running the SQL*Loader server.

How To Install Sql Loader Oracle 11g Support End

How To Install Sql Loader Oracle 11g Support End Of Life

Load data from multiple datafiles during the same load session. Load data into multiple tables during the same load session. Specify the character set of the data.

Selectively load data (you can load records based on the records' values). Manipulate the data before loading it, using SQL functions. Generate unique sequential key values in specified columns. Use the operating system's file system to access the datafiles. Load data from disk, tape, or named pipe. Generate sophisticated error reports, which greatly aid troubleshooting.

Load arbitrarily complex object- relational data. Use secondary datafiles for loading LOBs and collections. Use either conventional or direct path loading. While conventional path loading is very flexible, direct path loading provides superior loading performance. See Chapter 1. 1. A typical SQL*Loader session takes as input a control file, which controls the behavior of SQL*Loader, and one or more datafiles. The output of SQL*Loader is an Oracle database (where the data is loaded), a log file, a bad file, and potentially, a discard file.

6 SQL*Loader Concepts. This chapter explains the basic concepts of loading data into an Oracle database with SQL*Loader. This chapter covers the following topics. Feature SQL Server 2008 Release 2 Oracle 11G Release 2 PostgreSQL 8.4/PostGIS 1.5; OS: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 2003, Windows 2008 (runs in both 32-bit and.

An example of the flow of a SQL*Loader session is shown in Figure 6- 1. SQL*Loader Parameters. SQL*Loader is invoked when you specify the sqlldr command and, optionally, parameters that establish session characteristics. In situations where you always use the same parameters for which the values seldom change, it can be more efficient to specify parameters using the following methods, rather than on the command line: Parameters can be grouped together in a parameter file.

You could then specify the name of the parameter file on the command line using the PARFILE parameter. Certain parameters can also be specified within the SQL*Loader control file by using the OPTIONS clause. Parameters specified on the command line override any parameter values specified in a parameter file or OPTIONS clause. SQL*Loader Control File. The control file is a text file written in a language that SQL*Loader understands. The control file tells SQL*Loader where to find the data, how to parse and interpret the data, where to insert the data, and more.

Although not precisely defined, a control file can be said to have three sections. The first section contains session- wide information, for example: Global options such as bindsize, rows, records to skip, and so on.

INFILE clauses to specify where the input data is located. Data to be loaded. The second section consists of one or more INTO TABLE blocks. Each of these blocks contains information about the table into which the data is to be loaded, such as the table name and the columns of the table. The third section is optional and, if present, contains input data. Some control file syntax considerations to keep in mind are: The syntax is free- format (statements can extend over multiple lines). It is case insensitive; however, strings enclosed in single or double quotation marks are taken literally, including case.

In control file syntax, comments extend from the two hyphens (- -) that mark the beginning of the comment to the end of the line. The optional third section of the control file is interpreted as data rather than as control file syntax; consequently, comments in this section are not supported. The keywords CONSTANT and ZONE have special meaning to SQL*Loader and are therefore reserved. To avoid potential conflicts, Oracle recommends that you do not use either CONSTANT or ZONE as a name for any tables or columns.

See Also: Chapter 8 for details about control file syntax and semantics. Input Data and Datafiles. SQL*Loader reads data from one or more files (or operating system equivalents of files) specified in the control file. From SQL*Loader's perspective, the data in the datafile is organized as records. A particular datafile can be in fixed record format, variable record format, or stream record format.

The record format can be specified in the control file with the INFILE parameter. If no record format is specified, the default is stream record format. Note. If data is specified inside the control file (that is, INFILE * was specified in the control file), then the data is interpreted in the stream record format with the default record terminator.

Fixed Record Format. A file is in fixed record format when all records in a datafile are the same byte length. Although this format is the least flexible, it results in better performance than variable or stream format. Fixed format is also simple to specify. For example. INFILE datafile. The datafile in the example contains five physical records.

Assuming that a period (.) indicates a space, the first physical record is . The second record is . Note that newline characters are not required with the fixed record format.

Note that the length is always interpreted in bytes, even if character- length semantics are in effect for the file. This is necessary because the file could contain a mix of fields, some of which are processed with character- length semantics and others which are processed with byte- length semantics. Dpm 2010 Manual Agent Install Work Group Windows 10 more. Torque In Golf Driver Shafts Explained Synonym. See Character- Length Semantics. Example 6- 1 Loading Data in Fixed Record Format. This format provides some added flexibility over the fixed record format and a performance advantage over the stream record format. For example, you can specify a datafile that is to be interpreted as being in variable record format as follows. INFILE . If n is not specified, SQL*Loader assumes a length of 5 bytes.

Specifying n larger than 4. Example 6- 2 shows a control file specification that tells SQL*Loader to look for data in the datafile example. The example. dat datafile consists of three physical records. The first is specified to be 0.

Note that newline characters are not required with the variable record format. This example also assumes a single- byte character set for the datafile. The lengths are always interpreted in bytes, even if character- length semantics are in effect for the file. This is necessary because the file could contain a mix of fields, some processed with character- length semantics and others processed with byte- length semantics. See Character- Length Semantics.

Example 6- 2 Loading Data in Variable Record Format. Stream record format is the most flexible format, but there can be a negative effect on performance. The specification of a datafile to be interpreted as being in stream record format looks similar to the following.

INFILE datafile. However, some nonprintable characters can be specified as ('char. For example: \n indicates a line feed\t indicates a horizontal tab\f indicates a form feed\v indicates a vertical tab\r indicates a carriage return. If the character set specified with the NLS. This is done before SQL*Loader checks for the default record terminator.

Hexadecimal strings are assumed to be in the character set of the datafile, so no conversion is performed. On UNIX- based platforms, if no terminator. This means that if you know that one or more records in your datafile has \n embedded in a field, but you want \r\n to be used as the record terminator, you must specify it. Example 6- 3 illustrates loading data in stream record format where the terminator string is specified using a character string, '.

The use of the backslash character allows the character string to specify the nonprintable line feed character. Example 6- 3 Loading Data in Stream Record Format.