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

Name

COLUMN

Synopsis

The COLUMN command formats report output for columnar reports. Using this command, you can control column width, the column title, the way numbers are displayed, whether or not long values wrap to a new line, and a host of other things. Chapter 5 discusses this command.

Syntax

COL[UMN] [column_name [ALI[AS] alias |
                      CLE[AR] |
                      ENTMAP {ON | OFF}
                      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] variable |
                      NOPRI[NT] |
                      PRI[NT] |
                      NUL[L] null_text |
                      OLD_V[ALUE] variable |
                      ON |
                      OFF |
                      TRU[NCATED] |
                      WOR[D_WRAPPED] |
                      WRA[PPED] . . . ]]

Parameters

COL[UMN]

May be abbreviated COL. Issuing the COLUMN command with no parameters gets you a list of all current column formats.

column_name

Is the name of the column you are formating. 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 with no further parameters causes SQL*Plus to display the current format for that column.

ALI[AS]

May be abbreviated ALI. ALIAS allows you to specify an alternate name for this column that is meaningful to SQL*Plus. Do not confuse this with the column alias in a SELECT statement.

alias

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

CLE[AR]

May be abbreviated CLE. CLEAR erases any format settings for the column ...