
- •Contents
- •Send Us Your Comments
- •Preface
- •What’s New in SQL Reference?
- •1 Introduction to Oracle SQL
- •History of SQL
- •SQL Standards
- •Embedded SQL
- •Lexical Conventions
- •Tools Support
- •2 Basic Elements of Oracle SQL
- •Datatypes
- •Oracle Built-in Datatypes
- •ANSI, DB2, and SQL/DS Datatypes
- •Oracle-Supplied Types
- •"Any" Types
- •XML Types
- •Spatial Type
- •Media Types
- •Datatype Comparison Rules
- •Data Conversion
- •Literals
- •Text Literals
- •Integer Literals
- •Number Literals
- •Interval Literals
- •Format Models
- •Number Format Models
- •Date Format Models
- •String-to-Date Conversion Rules
- •XML Format Model
- •Nulls
- •Nulls in SQL Functions
- •Nulls with Comparison Conditions
- •Nulls in Conditions
- •Pseudocolumns
- •CURRVAL and NEXTVAL
- •LEVEL
- •ROWID
- •ROWNUM
- •XMLDATA
- •Comments
- •Comments Within SQL Statements
- •Comments on Schema Objects
- •Hints
- •Database Objects
- •Schema Objects
- •Nonschema Objects
- •Parts of Schema Objects
- •Schema Object Names and Qualifiers
- •Schema Object Naming Rules
- •Schema Object Naming Examples
- •Schema Object Naming Guidelines
- •Syntax for Schema Objects and Parts in SQL Statements
- •How Oracle Resolves Schema Object References
- •Referring to Objects in Other Schemas
- •Referring to Objects in Remote Databases
- •Referencing Object Type Attributes and Methods
- •3 Operators
- •About SQL Operators
- •Unary and Binary Operators
- •Operator Precedence
- •Arithmetic Operators
- •Concatenation Operator
- •Set Operators
- •4 Expressions
- •About SQL Expressions
- •Simple Expressions
- •Compound Expressions
- •CASE Expressions
- •CURSOR Expressions
- •Datetime Expressions
- •Function Expressions
- •INTERVAL Expressions
- •Object Access Expressions
- •Scalar Subquery Expressions
- •Type Constructor Expressions
- •Variable Expressions
- •Expression Lists
- •5 Conditions
- •About SQL Conditions
- •Condition Precedence
- •Comparison Conditions
- •Simple Comparison Conditions
- •Group Comparison Conditions
- •Logical Conditions
- •Membership Conditions
- •Range Conditions
- •Null Conditions
- •EQUALS_PATH
- •EXISTS Conditions
- •LIKE Conditions
- •IS OF type Conditions
- •UNDER_PATH
- •Compound Conditions
- •6 Functions
- •SQL Functions
- •Single-Row Functions
- •Aggregate Functions
- •Analytic Functions
- •Object Reference Functions
- •Alphabetical Listing of SQL Functions
- •ACOS
- •ADD_MONTHS
- •ASCII
- •ASCIISTR
- •ASIN
- •ATAN
- •ATAN2
- •BFILENAME
- •BITAND
- •CAST
- •CEIL
- •CHARTOROWID
- •COALESCE
- •COMPOSE
- •CONCAT
- •CONVERT
- •CORR
- •COSH
- •COUNT
- •COVAR_POP
- •COVAR_SAMP
- •CUME_DIST
- •CURRENT_DATE
- •CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
- •DBTIMEZONE
- •DECODE
- •DECOMPOSE
- •DENSE_RANK
- •DEPTH
- •DEREF
- •DUMP
- •EMPTY_BLOB, EMPTY_CLOB
- •EXISTSNODE
- •EXTRACT (datetime)
- •EXTRACT (XML)
- •EXTRACTVALUE
- •FIRST
- •FIRST_VALUE
- •FLOOR
- •FROM_TZ
- •GREATEST
- •GROUP_ID
- •GROUPING
- •GROUPING_ID
- •HEXTORAW
- •INITCAP
- •INSTR
- •LAST
- •LAST_DAY
- •LAST_VALUE
- •LEAD
- •LEAST
- •LENGTH
- •LOCALTIMESTAMP
- •LOWER
- •LPAD
- •LTRIM
- •MAKE_REF
- •MONTHS_BETWEEN
- •NCHR
- •NEW_TIME
- •NEXT_DAY
- •NLS_CHARSET_DECL_LEN
- •NLS_CHARSET_ID
- •NLS_CHARSET_NAME
- •NLS_INITCAP
- •NLS_LOWER
- •NLSSORT
- •NLS_UPPER
- •NTILE
- •NULLIF
- •NUMTODSINTERVAL
- •NUMTOYMINTERVAL
- •PATH
- •PERCENT_RANK
- •PERCENTILE_CONT
- •PERCENTILE_DISC
- •POWER
- •RANK
- •RATIO_TO_REPORT
- •RAWTOHEX
- •RAWTONHEX
- •REFTOHEX
- •REGR_ (Linear Regression) Functions
- •REPLACE
- •ROUND (number)
- •ROUND (date)
- •ROW_NUMBER
- •ROWIDTOCHAR
- •ROWIDTONCHAR
- •RPAD
- •RTRIM
- •SESSIONTIMEZONE
- •SIGN
- •SINH
- •SOUNDEX
- •SQRT
- •STDDEV
- •STDDEV_POP
- •STDDEV_SAMP
- •SUBSTR
- •SYS_CONNECT_BY_PATH
- •SYS_CONTEXT
- •SYS_DBURIGEN
- •SYS_EXTRACT_UTC
- •SYS_GUID
- •SYS_TYPEID
- •SYS_XMLAGG
- •SYS_XMLGEN
- •SYSDATE
- •SYSTIMESTAMP
- •TANH
- •TO_CHAR (character)
- •TO_CHAR (datetime)
- •TO_CHAR (number)
- •TO_CLOB
- •TO_DATE
- •TO_DSINTERVAL
- •TO_MULTI_BYTE
- •TO_NCHAR (character)
- •TO_NCHAR (datetime)
- •TO_NCHAR (number)
- •TO_NCLOB
- •TO_NUMBER
- •TO_SINGLE_BYTE
- •TO_TIMESTAMP
- •TO_TIMESTAMP_TZ
- •TO_YMINTERVAL
- •TRANSLATE
- •TRANSLATE ... USING
- •TREAT
- •TRIM
- •TRUNC (number)
- •TRUNC (date)
- •TZ_OFFSET
- •UNISTR
- •UPDATEXML
- •UPPER
- •USER
- •USERENV
- •VALUE
- •VAR_SAMP
- •VARIANCE
- •VSIZE
- •WIDTH_BUCKET
- •XMLAGG
- •XMLCOLATTVAL
- •XMLCONCAT
- •XMLELEMENT
- •XMLFOREST
- •XMLSEQUENCE
- •XMLTRANSFORM
- •ROUND and TRUNC Date Functions
- •User-Defined Functions
- •Prerequisites
- •Name Precedence
- •7 Common SQL DDL Clauses
- •allocate_extent_clause
- •constraints
- •deallocate_unused_clause
- •file_specification
- •logging_clause
- •parallel_clause
- •physical_attributes_clause
- •storage_clause
- •8 SQL Queries and Subqueries
- •About Queries and Subqueries
- •Creating Simple Queries
- •Hierarchical Queries
- •The UNION [ALL], INTERSECT, MINUS Operators
- •Sorting Query Results
- •Joins
- •Using Subqueries
- •Unnesting of Nested Subqueries
- •Selecting from the DUAL Table
- •Distributed Queries
- •9 SQL Statements: ALTER CLUSTER to ALTER SEQUENCE
- •Types of SQL Statements
- •Organization of SQL Statements
- •ALTER CLUSTER
- •ALTER DATABASE
- •ALTER DIMENSION
- •ALTER FUNCTION
- •ALTER INDEX
- •ALTER INDEXTYPE
- •ALTER JAVA
- •ALTER MATERIALIZED VIEW
- •ALTER MATERIALIZED VIEW LOG
- •ALTER OPERATOR
- •ALTER OUTLINE
- •ALTER PACKAGE
- •ALTER PROCEDURE
- •ALTER PROFILE
- •ALTER RESOURCE COST
- •ALTER ROLE
- •ALTER ROLLBACK SEGMENT
- •ALTER SEQUENCE
- •10 SQL Statements: ALTER SESSION to ALTER SYSTEM
- •ALTER SESSION
- •ALTER SYSTEM
- •ALTER TABLE
- •ALTER TABLESPACE
- •ALTER TRIGGER
- •ALTER TYPE
- •ALTER USER
- •ALTER VIEW
- •ANALYZE
- •ASSOCIATE STATISTICS
- •AUDIT
- •CALL
- •COMMENT
- •COMMIT
- •13 SQL Statements: CREATE CLUSTER to CREATE JAVA
- •CREATE CLUSTER
- •CREATE CONTEXT
- •CREATE CONTROLFILE
- •CREATE DATABASE
- •CREATE DATABASE LINK
- •CREATE DIMENSION
- •CREATE DIRECTORY
- •CREATE FUNCTION
- •CREATE INDEX
- •CREATE INDEXTYPE
- •CREATE JAVA
- •14 SQL Statements: CREATE LIBRARY to CREATE SPFILE
- •CREATE LIBRARY
- •CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW
- •CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW LOG
- •CREATE OPERATOR
- •CREATE OUTLINE
- •CREATE PACKAGE
- •CREATE PACKAGE BODY
- •CREATE PFILE
- •CREATE PROCEDURE
- •CREATE PROFILE
- •CREATE ROLE
- •CREATE ROLLBACK SEGMENT
- •CREATE SCHEMA
- •CREATE SEQUENCE
- •CREATE SPFILE
- •15 SQL Statements: CREATE SYNONYM to CREATE TRIGGER
- •CREATE SYNONYM
- •CREATE TABLE
- •CREATE TABLESPACE
- •CREATE TEMPORARY TABLESPACE
- •CREATE TRIGGER
- •CREATE TYPE
- •CREATE TYPE BODY
- •CREATE USER
- •CREATE VIEW
- •DELETE
- •DISASSOCIATE STATISTICS
- •DROP CLUSTER
- •DROP CONTEXT
- •DROP DATABASE LINK
- •DROP DIMENSION
- •DROP DIRECTORY
- •DROP FUNCTION
- •DROP INDEX
- •DROP INDEXTYPE
- •DROP JAVA
- •DROP LIBRARY
- •DROP MATERIALIZED VIEW
- •DROP MATERIALIZED VIEW LOG
- •DROP OPERATOR
- •DROP OUTLINE
- •DROP PACKAGE
- •DROP PROCEDURE
- •DROP PROFILE
- •DROP ROLE
- •DROP ROLLBACK SEGMENT
- •17 SQL Statements: DROP SEQUENCE to ROLLBACK
- •DROP SEQUENCE
- •DROP SYNONYM
- •DROP TABLE
- •DROP TABLESPACE
- •DROP TRIGGER
- •DROP TYPE
- •DROP TYPE BODY
- •DROP USER
- •DROP VIEW
- •EXPLAIN PLAN
- •GRANT
- •INSERT
- •LOCK TABLE
- •MERGE
- •NOAUDIT
- •RENAME
- •REVOKE
- •ROLLBACK
- •18 SQL Statements: SAVEPOINT to UPDATE
- •SAVEPOINT
- •SELECT
- •SET CONSTRAINT[S]
- •SET ROLE
- •SET TRANSACTION
- •TRUNCATE
- •UPDATE
- •Required Keywords and Parameters
- •Optional Keywords and Parameters
- •Syntax Loops
- •Multipart Diagrams
- •Database Objects
- •ANSI Standards
- •ISO Standards
- •Oracle Compliance
- •FIPS Compliance
- •Oracle Extensions to Standard SQL
- •Character Set Support
- •Using Extensible Indexing
- •Using XML in SQL Statements
- •Index

ALTER OPERATOR
ALTER OPERATOR
Purpose
Use the ALTER OPERATOR statement to compile an existing operator.
See Also: CREATE OPERATOR on page 14-44
Prerequisites
The operator must be in your own or another schema, or you must have the ALTER ANY OPERATOR system privilege.
Syntax
alter_operator::=
|
schema |
. |
|
|
ALTER |
OPERATOR |
operator |
COMPILE |
; |
Semantics
schema
Specify the schema containing the operator. If you omit this clause, Oracle assumes the operator is in your own schema.
operator
Specify the name of the operator to be recompiled.
COMPILE
Specify COMPILE to cause Oracle to recompile the operator. The COMPILE keyword is required.
Examples
Compiling a User-defined Operator: Example The following example compiles the operator eq_op (which was created in "Creating User-Defined Operators: Example" on page 14-47):
ALTER OPERATOR eq_op COMPILE;
SQL Statements: ALTER CLUSTER to ALTER SEQUENCE 9-117

ALTER OUTLINE
ALTER OUTLINE
Purpose
Use the ALTER OUTLINE statement to rename a stored outline, reassign it to a different category, or regenerate it by compiling the outline’s SQL statement and replacing the old outline data with the outline created under current conditions.
See Also: CREATE OUTLINE on page 14-48 and Oracle9i Database
Performance Tuning Guide and Reference for more information on outlines
Prerequisites
To modify an outline, you must have the ALTER ANY OUTLINE system privilege.
Syntax
alter_outline::=
|
|
PUBLIC |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
PRIVATE |
REBUILD |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ALTER |
OUTLINE |
outline |
RENAME |
TO |
new_outline_name |
; |
||
|
|
|
CHANGE |
CATEGORY |
TO |
new_category_name |
|
Semantics
PUBLIC | PRIVATE
Specify PUBLIC if you want to modify the public version of this outline. This is the default.
Specify PRIVATE if you want to modify the outline that is private to the current session and whose data is stored in the current parsing schema.
outline
Specify the name of the outline to be modified.
REBUILD
Specify REBUILD to regenerate the execution plan for outline using current conditions.
9-118 Oracle9i SQL Reference

ALTER OUTLINE
See Also: "Rebuilding an Outline: Example" on page 9-119
RENAME TO Clause
Use the RENAME TO clause to specify an outline name to replace outline.
CHANGE CATEGORY TO Clause
Use the CHANGE CATEGORY TO clause to specify the name of the category into which the outline will be moved.
Example
Rebuilding an Outline: Example The following statement regenerates a stored outline called salaries by compiling the outline’s text and replacing the old outline data with the outline created under current conditions.
ALTER OUTLINE salaries REBUILD;
SQL Statements: ALTER CLUSTER to ALTER SEQUENCE 9-119

ALTER PACKAGE
ALTER PACKAGE
Purpose
Use the ALTER PACKAGE statement to explicitly recompile a package specification, body, or both. Explicit recompilation eliminates the need for implicit run-time recompilation and prevents associated run-time compilation errors and performance overhead.
Because all objects in a package are stored as a unit, the ALTER PACKAGE statement recompiles all package objects together. You cannot use the ALTER PROCEDURE statement or ALTER FUNCTION statement to recompile individually a procedure or function that is part of a package.
Note: This statement does not change the declaration or definition of an existing package. To redeclare or redefine a package, use the CREATE PACKAGE or the CREATE PACKAGE BODY on
page 14-52 statement with the OR REPLACE clause.
Prerequisites
For you to modify a package, the package must be in your own schema or you must have ALTER ANY PROCEDURE system privilege.
Syntax
alter_package::=
|
schema |
. |
|
|
ALTER |
PACKAGE |
package |
|
|
|
|
PACKAGE |
|
|
|
|
SPECIFICATION |
|
|
|
DEBUG |
BODY |
REUSE |
SETTINGS |
COMPILE |
|
|
|
; |
9-120 Oracle9i SQL Reference

ALTER PACKAGE
Semantics
schema
Specify the schema containing the package. If you omit schema, Oracle assumes the package is in your own schema.
package
Specify the name of the package to be recompiled.
COMPILE
You must specify COMPILE to recompile the package specification or body. The COMPILE keyword is required.
During recompilation, Oracle drops all persistent compiler switch settings, retrieves them again from the session, and stores them at the end of compilation. To avoid this process, specify the REUSE SETTINGS clause.
If recompiling the package results in compilation errors, Oracle returns an error and the body remains invalid. You can see the associated compiler error messages with the SQL*Plus command SHOW ERRORS.
See Also: "Recompiling a Package: Examples" on page 9-122
SPECIFICATION
Specify SPECIFICATION to recompile only the package specification, regardless of whether it is invalid. You might want to recompile a package specification to check for compilation errors after modifying the specification.
When you recompile a package specification, Oracle invalidates any local objects that depend on the specification, such as procedures that call procedures or functions in the package. The body of a package also depends on its specification. If you subsequently reference one of these dependent objects without first explicitly recompiling it, Oracle recompiles it implicitly at run time.
BODY
Specify BODY to recompile only the package body regardless of whether it is invalid. You might want to recompile a package body after modifying it. Recompiling a package body does not invalidate objects that depend upon the package specification.
SQL Statements: ALTER CLUSTER to ALTER SEQUENCE 9-121

ALTER PACKAGE
When you recompile a package body, Oracle first recompiles the objects on which the body depends, if any of those objects are invalid. If Oracle recompiles the body successfully, the body becomes valid.
PACKAGE
Specify PACKAGE to recompile both the package specification and the package body if one exists, regardless of whether they are invalid. This is the default. The recompilation of the package specification and body lead to the invalidation and recompilation as described for SPECIFICATION and BODY.
See Also: Oracle9i Database Concepts for information on how Oracle maintains dependencies among schema objects, including remote objects
DEBUG
Specify DEBUG to instruct the PL/SQL compiler to generate and store the code for use by the PL/SQL debugger.
See Also: Oracle9i Supplied PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for information on debugging packages
REUSE SETTINGS
Specify REUSE SETTINGS to prevent Oracle from dropping and reacquiring compiler switch settings. With this clause, Oracle preserves the existing settings and uses them for the recompilation.
If you specify both DEBUG and REUSE SETTINGS, Oracle sets the persistently stored value of the PLSQL_COMPILER_FLAGS parameter to INTERPRETED, DEBUG. No other compiler switch values are changed.
See Also: PL/SQL User’s Guide and Reference and Oracle9i Application Developer’s Guide - Fundamentals for more information on the interaction of the PLSQL_COMPILER_FLAGS parameter with the COMPILE clause
Examples
Recompiling a Package: Examples This statement explicitly recompiles the specification and body of the hr.emp_mgmt package that was created in "Creating a Package: Example" on page 14-55:
9-122 Oracle9i SQL Reference

ALTER PACKAGE
ALTER PACKAGE emp_mgmt
COMPILE PACKAGE;
If Oracle encounters no compilation errors while recompiling the accounting specification and body, emp_mgmt becomes valid. The user hr can subsequently call or reference all package objects declared in the specification of emp_mgmt without run-time recompilation. If recompiling emp_mgmt results in compilation errors, Oracle returns an error and emp_mgmt remains invalid.
Oracle also invalidates all objects that depend upon emp_mgmt. If you subsequently reference one of these objects without explicitly recompiling it first, Oracle recompiles it implicitly at run time.
To recompile the body of the emp_mgmt package in the schema hr, issue the following statement:
ALTER PACKAGE hr.emp_mgmt
COMPILE BODY;
If Oracle encounters no compilation errors while recompiling the package body, the body becomes valid. The user hr can subsequently call or reference all package objects declared in the specification of emp_mgmt without run-time recompilation. If recompiling the body results in compilation errors, Oracle returns an error message and the body remains invalid.
Because this statement recompiles the body and not the specification of emp_mgmt, Oracle does not invalidate dependent objects.
SQL Statements: ALTER CLUSTER to ALTER SEQUENCE 9-123