Re: I'm doing something wrong...

In article <92084.133613MKK2_at_psuvm.psu.edu> <MKK2_at_psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
>I must be. I'm fooling around with SQL*Plus under (yuck) MSDOS.

What is wrong with SQL*Plus under MS-DOS? If you have a 386, I find it runs faster than a mid-sized VAX under moderate loads.

>I can save and execute buffers containing SQL commands, but as soon
>as I add a line such as
>
> COLUMN EMPNAME FORMAT A12
> select EMPNAME from EMP
> /
>
>I get error messages. ORA-0900: invalid SQL statement

The problem is is that the COLUMN command is a SQL*Plus command, not a SQL statement and therefore it is illegal to try to load it into a SQL buffer. A subtle yet important point.

Michael Wang
mmwang_at_adobe.com

-- 
Michael Wang
mmwang_at_adobe.com