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

Name

SET RECSEP

Synopsis

The RECSEP setting tells SQL*Plus whether or not to print a record separator between each record displayed as the result of a query. The default setting is not to print anything, except when a long record wraps to a second line. In that case, a blank line is printed as a record separator.

Syntax

SET RECSEP {WR[APPED] | EA[CH] | OFF}

Parameters

WR[APPED]

Tells SQL*Plus to print a record separator only when a line wraps. This is the default setting.

EA[CH]

Tells SQL*Plus to print a record separator after each record.

OFF

Tells SQL*Plus not to print any record separators at all.

Examples

The default setting is WRAPPED, which is probably a safe choice because it causes a separator to print only in cases where a break between records may not be obvious, that is when each line doesn't necessarily start a new record. Here is an example of a record separator being printed:

SQL> COLUMN view_name FORMAT A15
SQL> SELECT view_name FROM all_views;
ALL_ALL_TABLES
ALL_ARGUMENTS
ALL_CATALOG
ALL_CLUSTERS
ALL_CLUSTER_HAS
H_EXPRESSIONS
ALL_COLL_TYPES
 . . .

You can see that the record separator, a blank line by default, was printed after the ALL_CLUSTER_HASH_EXPRESSIONS view was listed. This blank line removes any ambiguity about whether H_EXPRESSIONS and ALL_CLUSTER_HAS are two separate views or if a long view name has wrapped to a second line. Setting RECSEP to OFF yields the following results:

SQL> SET RECSEP OFF
SQL> SELECT VIEW_NAME from all_views; ALL_ALL_TABLES ALL_ARGUMENTS ALL_CATALOG ...