Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition

Report Headers and Footers

Report headers and footers work much like page headers and footers, except that they print only once in a report. A report header prints at the beginning of the report, after the first page title and before the first detail line. A report footer prints at the end of a report, after the last detail line and before the final page footer. Figure 7-1 illustrates this by showing how the different types of headers and footers print relative to each other in a three-page report.

Figure 7-1. Report headers and footers versus page headers and footers

You define a report header using the REPHEADER command. The REPFOOTER command defines a report footer. The parameters you can use with REPHEADER and REPFOOTER are the same as, and work the same way as, those used with the TTITLE command.

One use for a report header is to define a report title that prints only on the first page of a report, leaving only column titles at the top of all subsequent pages. You can use a report footer to mark the end of a report, so you know for sure whether you have all the pages. Here is an example showing how these things can be done.

Recall that the Project Hours and Dollars Report from Example 5-5 used the following commands to define page headers and footers:

TTITLE CENTER 'The Fictional Company' SKIP 3 - LEFT 'I.S. Department' - RIGHT 'Project Hours and Dollars Report' SKIP 1 - LEFT '=============================================================' ...