Chapter 2. Data Definition Statements

SQL statements fall into two categories: Data Definition Language (DDL) and Data Manipulation Language (DML). You invoke DDL statements when you need to manipulate the structure of your Oracle database. You can use DDL statements to define, modify, and remove every type of object that can exist in an Oracle database. For this reason, it is critically important that you understand DDL statements and know how to use them properly. Many of the DDL statements require special database privileges and are normally executed by the DBA; for DBAs, of course, knowledge of DDL is a requirement. But Oracle developers and designers will also find knowledge of these statements to be very useful. Because DDL statements can perform so many different functions, there are a large number of them, and many have a wide range of options and syntax choices. This chapter provides a quick reference to what these SQL statements do and how you issue them.

SQL statements in the second category, DML, are used to manipulate the actual data contained in an Oracle database. DML statements are covered in Chapter 3.

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