Re: simple sql question.

Shravana Kumar <kumar.shravana_at_blr.spcnl.co.in> wrote in message news:<3E025D01.41FE8586_at_blr.spcnl.co.in>...
> Hi All,
>
> we are using oracle 9.2.0 on sun solaris 8.
>
> SQL> select * from tab; ( get some results only if you end the
> statement with a semi colon )
>
> SQL> desc tab ( get results even if you don't end the statement with
> the semi colon )
>
> why?
>
> thanks,
>
> Best Regards,
> ShravanaKumar.

Describe or desc is an SQLPlus command and SQLPlus reads the lines as input and recognizes an SQLPlus command

The "select * from tab;" is an SQL statement. SQLPlus recognizes it from the keywork "select" and an SQL statement may span lines so SQLPlus does not execute the statement until it recognizes a semicolon, a slash "/" as the first character of a line, or the SQLPlus command: run.

There is a manual on SQL on the documentation CD that you can scan in an hour or two and pick up a lot of useful formatting and editing commands.

HTH -- Mark D Powell -- Received on Fri Dec 20 2002 - 12:13:51 CST