Re: OFA and file extension naming conventions

From: Howard J. Rogers <hjr_at_dizwell.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 13:31:02 +1100
Message-ID: <40624469$0$31901$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au>

"Snid" <snid_at_snider.sno> wrote in message news:c3tg0n$354$1_at_bunyip.cc.uq.edu.au...
> Under OFA it says that data files (datafiles) should end with a .dbf
> extension; however, it doesn't mention what temporary files (tempfiles,
temp
> files) should end in.
>
> I don't think that tempfiles should end with a .dbf extension as they
aren't
> datafiles.

Yes they are. What makes you think they're not? The contents of the files are different, for sure, in the sense that you don't care about it on a long-term basis. But even then, they've got Oracle blocks inside them with headers and so on.

The only difference between a "normal" data file and a temp file is that the latter are created initially sparse (like when you touch a file in *nix). But once people start using the file for sorts etc, then the thing gets internally formatted exactly like any other data file would.

So it's a data file, and it should get a dbf extension.

Regards
HJR Received on Wed Mar 24 2004 - 20:31:02 CST