Use of CACHE option on small tables that I want scanned

With (I think) 7.3, Oracle introduced the CACHE / NOCACHE option in CREATE TABLE. According to the documentation, the normal behavior on a table scan is to place scanned blocks at the LRU end of the cache, so that they don't force more relevant blocks out. By setting this option on the table (or using the CACHE hint), the blocks are instead placed at the MRU end of the cache.

We have several tables that are filled with data (a few hundred rows) at the start of a transaction, then emptied at the end of the transaction, which I want to be the drivers for a series of queries. It seems like the CACHE option is a no-brainer here, but I was wondering if anyone had compared the two options.

-kdg Received on Tue Mar 31 1998 - 00:00:00 CST