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Oracle SQL*Plus Pocket Reference
book

Oracle SQL*Plus Pocket Reference

by Jonathan Gennick
April 2000
Intermediate to advanced content levelIntermediate to advanced
94 pages
1h 52m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Oracle SQL*Plus Pocket Reference

Name

COLUMN

Synopsis

COL[UMN] [column_name [ALI[AS] alias |
   CLE[AR] | FOLD_A[FTER] | FOLD_B[EFORE] |
   FOR[MAT] format_spec | HEA[DING]
      heading_text |
   JUS[TIFY] {LEFT | CENTER | CENTRE | RIGHT} |
   LIKE source_column_name | NEWL[INE] |
   NEW_V[ALUE] user_variable | NOPRI[NT] |
   PRI[NT] | NUL[L] null_text |
   OLD_V[ALUE] user_variable | ON | OFF |
   TRU[NCATED] | WOR[D_WRAPPED] | 
      WRA[PPED]...]]

The COLUMN command is used to format report output for columnar reports. Issuing the COLUMN command with no parameters gets you a list of all current column formats. For example:

COLUMN employee_name HEADING "Name" -
   FORMAT A20 WORD_WRAPPED
COLUMN employee_hire_date -
   HEADING "Hire Date" -
   FORMAT A12 JUSTIFY RIGHT

COLUMN commands are cumulative. Two COLUMN commands specifying two different settings for the same field are equivalent to one command specifying both parameters.

Parameters

column_name

Is the name of the column you are formatting. If it is a computed column, the expression is the name. If your SELECT statement aliases the column, you must use that alias name here. Issuing the command COLUMN column_name with no further parameters causes SQL*Plus to display the current format for that column.

ALI[AS]

Allows you to specify an alternate name for this column that is meaningful to SQL*Plus.

alias

Is an alternate name for the column that may be used in BREAK commands, COMPUTE commands, and other COLUMN commands.

CLE[AR]

Erases any format settings for the column in question.

FOLD_A[FTER]

Causes SQL*Plus to advance ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 1565929411Catalog PageErrata