Re: col widths in sql in ora 9

[Quoted] mcstock (mcstockspamplug_at_spamdamenquery.com) wrote:
: as noted in the other post, you need to use the SQL*Plus COLUMN command to
: control SQL*Plus output

[Quoted] Actually, I have realized that the substr still controls the width, it's just that it isn't clear how the width is determined, though I suspect something to do with the width of characters.

substr(xx,1,30) produces a 90 character column (which I thought was the underlying column width, but that was just a close coincidence).

substr(xx,1,20) produces a 60 character column

so it appears that the displayed width is three times the selected width, so the question is - what is controlling this?

: this is best done in the script that contains the SQL statement

which is not so useful for interactive queries

: these setting remain in effect for the SQL*Plus (not database server)
: session -- so they don't change if you connect to another database

Yes, but the difference in column widths from these queries do change based on the server, even though the underlying tables and the queries appear to be the same.

: so best practice is issue explicit COLUMN commands at the beginning of a
: script, perhaps setting common ones via a START <scriptfile> command, then
: at the end of the script, reset the SQL*Plus environment -- preferably via
: another START <scriptfile> command

[Quoted] Unfortunately, I haven't yet seen the sql plus command that "resets" variables to a previous state.

So, if you interactively type "COLUMN whatever" (or "SET whatever"), and then run a sql batch file that also sets that same value then there is no easy way for the sql batch file to restore the previous value. Received on Thu Nov 13 2003 - 23:19:48 CET