Re: help for a former sybase user

In <37_at_atstoo.win.net> mturk_at_atstoo.win.net (Michael T. Turk) writes:
>In article <1993Sep20.231840.733_at_gtewd.mtv.gtegsc.com>, davidsonj_at_gtewd.mtv.gtegsc.com (davidsonj_at_gtewd.mtv.gtegsc.com) writes:

[Lots of stuff deleted]        

>For problem 2, SQL*Plus has a very crude line-oriented editor as
>part of its interactive session. If you have executed a file
>using an '_at_' or start command, you may then review and edit it
>line by line using a 'l' command. The most recently executed
>or typed SQL command (but not SQL*Plus command) is contained in
>the 'SQL Buffer' and may be modified, added to, or deleted
>from. As I said, the editor functions are very crude (remember
>MS-DOS edlin?) but can work for some quick prototyping.

You're right, the line editor is crude but I'm definitely happy to have it there. However SQL*Plus can also use an OS editor. Each system has its own default (eg on DOS it's edlin) which is invoked by typing edit at the SQL> prompt. This saves the current SQL*Plus command to a file (usually afiedt.buf) then starts the editor on that file. When you exit the editor, the changed file is put back to the buffer ready to be run.

A variable called _editor allows the default editor to be changed to anything that you feel like. I set it in login.sql to be edit (Oracle Tools for DOS) but, if I'm running Windows then I would change to Notepad. If you want to go over the top, try running Word for Windows as your SQL*Plus editor!

Regards

Ian

-- 
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Ian Dixon                       Email : idixon_at_infocom.co.uk
Reading, England