Re: Drop datafile

In article <9kk3nj$eva$1_at_news.planetinternet.be>, "Bernard says...
>
>I want to delete an empty datafile that I just created by mistake. I use the
>command "alter database datafile 'xxx' offline drop". No error, the datafile
>is offline but is not dropped. What can I do ? Can I modify some system
>tables directly (I would have done that on MS Sql Server in a few seconds) ?
>
>
>Thanks,
>Bernard
>
>
>
>

see
http://asktom.oracle.com/pls/ask/f?p=4950:8:::::F4950_P8_DISPLAYID:515222144417

Hopefully, the tablespace you offline dropped that file from was likewise empty. Once added -- a datafile is part of a the database until the TABLESPACE you added it to is dropped.

You can rename a file (to move it)
You can resize a file (eg: you can have shrunk that file way down and ignored it)

You cannot drop a file unless you drop the tablespace it is part of.

--
Thomas Kyte (tkyte@us.oracle.com)             http://asktom.oracle.com/ 
Expert one on one Oracle, programming techniques and solutions for Oracle.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1861004826/  
Opinions are mine and do not necessarily reflect those of Oracle Corp