Re: DESCRIBE?

Hello Graeme,

DESCRIBE is a command that has meaning only to Oracle's interactive query utility called "SQL*Plus".

To get information about a database from a Perl script, you can use the data dictionary tables. You might find the following article helpful:

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2002/10/28/data_dictionary.html

You can also got to otn.oracle.com, dig for the Oracle documentation, and then for the "Oracle Database Reference" manual, and in that you will find comprehensive descriptions of all the data dictionary tables and columns.

Best regards,

Jonathan Gennick --- Brighten the corner where you are http://Gennick.com * 906.387.1698 * mailto:jonathan@gennick.com

Join the Oracle-article list and receive one article on Oracle technologies per month by email. To join, visit http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/oracle-article, or send email to Oracle-article-request_at_gennick.com and include the word "subscribe" in either the subject or body.

Monday, March 28, 2005, 11:48:12 AM, Graeme St. Clair (Graeme.St.Clair_at_hds.com) wrote:

GSC> I understand there is a "DESCRIBE my_data_base" command in Oracle SQL, and I
GSC> assume it will return material describing the d-b in question.  Right so
GSC> far?  If so, is it restricted in some way?  I'm finding I can issue SELECT
GSC> from a Perl script but not DESCRIBE - I get ORA-00900: invalid SQL statement
GSC> (DBD: error possibly near <*> indicator at char 1 in '<*>DESCRIBE
GSC> my_data_base').
 

GSC> Rgds, GStC.  

GSC> --
GSC> http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l

--
http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l