UNLOAD and input files

I'm using ORACLE 7.0.12, on Sun/UNIX.

A few weeks back, there was discussion of the program UNLOAD which is a PRO*C program which prompts the user for input and output details, then outputs a flat file of data.

Here are my questions:
1) Is there any one out there who has figured out a way to save the

   hours and minutes of a date (as well as the date itself)?    I only fiddled with the .pc file a bit and lengthened the case 12:    select_dp->L[i] = 14, then in the select phrase I selected the    date with to_char(thedate, 'MM/DD/YY HH24:MI') and this worked.    However, I have thirteen dates in one of my tables, thus I ask    the next question..

2) How can I feed UNLOAD an input file rather than typing replies to

   the prompt? When I put the replies into a file say t.in and do    % unload < t.in
   I get the following:
   Connected to ORACLE.
   ORA-01009: missing mandatory parameter

   The action says to check the syntax for the call and enter all    required parameters. Does anyone know what this means?

3) Finally, can I make the sql_statement longer than 240 chars?

The main reason for all these questions is that the generic sql statement select * from tablename won't work for me since I need to save the hours and minutes for the date fields. I can change the date to a character field with to_char, but it is tedious to type in all the dates, time and time again. Also, 240 chars is too short for the select statement.

So besides UNLOAD, if anyone knows of a simple way to make an ascii dump, fixed format flat file of a table with many dates, I'd really appreciate any insights.

Thank you!
Debbie Yoshihara
Department of Biostatistics
University of Wisconsin Received on Thu Apr 15 1993 - 16:30:59 CEST