Re: PL/SQL: How to check if a table exists or not?

Brent D Robinson wrote:

> Sandra Jones <sfjones_at_bellsouth.net> wrote in article
> <3415F817.7CDF_at_bellsouth.net>...
> >
> > greg teets wrote:
> > >
> > > On Wed, 27 Aug 1997 15:43:33 -0300, "Michael A. Casillas"
> > > <casillas_at_icepr.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > You can select against USER_TABLES
> > >
>
> As far as I know, USER_TABLES would only show the tables which are own
> by
> the same user who is currently connected, so this may not work for
> systems
> where multiple user id's are used to connect and access tables owned
> by
> another user id.
>
> But if you are using PL/SQL you can do a SELECT statement on the table
>
> (e.g. SELECT 'z' from TABLE1) and then catch the exception. If
> SQLCODE=
> -904 in the exception (the code for "TABLE DOES NOT EXIST") then you
> can
> take appropriate action.
>
> BEGIN
> SELECT 'x'
> into x
> from table1
> where rownum = 1;
> ...
> ...
> ...
> EXCEPTION
> when others then
> if SQLCODE = -904 then
> -- do whatever action here
> end if;
> END;
>
> > If you know the name of the table, why not just you
> > use
> > describe table_name;
> >
> > if the table exist it will be described
> >
> The person was asking about detecting the existence of the table in
> PL/SQL,
> the "describe" is for SQL PLUS.

Instead of selecting from USERS_TABLES, why not try ALL_TABLES? Received on Sat Sep 20 1997 - 00:00:00 CEST