Re: SQL-Loader and special characters

Sorry to say so, but this response is utter crap. Did you try it yourself? Of course not.
The & is a special character in sqlplus where I should stress the word *plus*. As such this is a sqlplus issue *only*, and as sqlplus configuration is not managed by changing init<sid>.ora, changing init<sid>.ora is not going to have *any* effect.
'You will need to bounce the database for each change to take effect' this could easily be interpreted as 'you need to bounce the database for every individual change' and of course this is nonsense, as all the changes you make at the same time do reflect in your live parameters when you bounce the database *once*.
In order to change the define settings you need to create a file called login.sql in the working directory your run sqlplus from. But then again, this applies to sqlplus only,
ampersands should load without problem using sqlloader, as the ampersand is *not* a special character in sqlloader. If you don't believe that please come with concrete evidence of the contrary.

Regards,

Sybrand Bakker, Oracle DBA

"Matt B." <mcb_at_ds.znet.com> wrote in message news:t6jopl2v7egta3_at_corp.supernews.com...
> "Nils Appel" <Nils_Appel_at_web.de> wrote in message
> news:94c74f$8o8$06$1_at_news.t-online.com...
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm trying to import data that contains a lot of "&" signs and other
 special
> > characters with sql-loader.
> >
> > To be able to insert such data I need to execute the command "set define
> > off" first. The problem is that it seems that one can't define such a
> > statement whithin SQL-loader. Also I have no idea how to make the
> > set-command last for ever (now I need to execute the "set define off"
> > command everytime I log on to SQL+).
> >
> > Can anyone help me with this?
> >
> > Tanks.
>
> Also try "set scan off" - not sure if that'll help or not but give it a
 try.
>
> Not sure if this will work but assuming the '&' is defined in the INIT
 file for
> the database, you can also try finding the database's INIT file (probably
 in
> $ORACLE_HOME/dbs) and change the '&' to some other special character, like
 a
> tilde (~) until you are finished and then change it back again. You will
 need
> to bounce the database for each change to take effect.
>
> Or, just change your file to have the & replaced by a tilde and then after
 you
> get the data into the database, change it back again.
>
> -Matt
>
>
Received on Sat Jan 20 2001 - 23:59:55 CET