Useful shortcuts for vi editor

Monday 18 December 2017

How to backup Oracle SQL Developer connection list?

Backup connection.xml file from SQL Developer Setup folder
e.g.
Oracle SQL Developer Version 17.3.1.279.0537

-> C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Roaming\SQL Developer\system17.3.1.279.0537\o.jdeveloper.db.connection\connections.xml

char vs byte

e.g.
SQL> 
CREATE TABLE exp_table
(
   col1   CHAR (1 CHAR),
   col2   CHAR (1 BYTE),
   col3   CHAR (1)
)
-> col1 can store 4 byte at most (if db charset is AL32UTF8)
-> col1 can store 3 byte at most (if db charset is UTF8)
-> col3 stores string according to NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS parameter
SQL>
SELECT * FROM  v$nls_parameters WHERE parameter = 'NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS';

Check db charset

SQL>
SELECT FROM nls_database_parameters WHERE parameter like '%SET%';

-> NLS_CHARACTERSET set for CHAR, VARCHAR2 and CLOB data types
-> NLS_NCHAR_CHARACTERSET set for NCHAR, NVARCHAR2 and NCLOB (N, National) data types

e.g.
NLS_NCHAR_CHARACTERSET         UTF8
NLS_CHARACTERSET               WE8ISO8859P9

Ref: https://docs.oracle.com/cd/B19306_01/server.102/b14225/ch6unicode.htm

Friday 8 December 2017

How to install/use rlwrap?

Installation
e.g.
# rpm -ivh rlwrap-0.42-1.el6.x86_64.rpm  

Usage
Add alias to .bash_profile file (or .bashrc, etc.)
alias sqlplus='rlwrap sqlplus'

$ sqlplus hr/hr
SQL> select 1 from dual;

Key trick is that while in sqlplus command line, use up or down keys to navigate sql history.

Wednesday 6 December 2017

How to define "Code Templates" in SQL Developer?

e.g.
SQL DEVELOPER -> TOOLS -> PREFERENCES -> DATABASE -> SQL EDITOR CODE TEMPLATES -> Click "ADD TEMPLATE" button -> Input Id as "sl", Template as "select * from " -> OK

Usage:

Press "sl" and press "ctrl+space"

Output:

select * from 

Tuesday 5 December 2017

ORA-00900, ORA-00911 solution

SQL
DECLARE
   sql_text   VARCHAR (1000);
BEGIN
   sql_text := 'exec P_COMPILE_INVALID_OBJECTS()';

   DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (sql_text);

   EXECUTE IMMEDIATE sql_text;
END;

Error
ORA-00900: invalid SQL statement
ORA-06512: at line 8

Solution
Use 'CALL' instead of 'EXEC' keyword.

DECLARE
   sql_text   VARCHAR (100);
BEGIN
   sql_text := 'call P_COMPILE_INVALID_OBJECTS()';

   DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (sql_text);

   EXECUTE IMMEDIATE sql_text;
END;

SQL
DECLARE
   sql_text   VARCHAR (1000);
BEGIN
   sql_text := 'select sysdate from dual;';

   DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (sql_text);

   EXECUTE IMMEDIATE sql_text;
END;

Error
ORA-00911: invalid character
ORA-06512: at line 8

Solution
Do not put comma (;) at the end of the sql statement.

DECLARE
   sql_text   VARCHAR (100);
BEGIN
   sql_text := 'select sysdate from dual';

   DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (sql_text);

   EXECUTE IMMEDIATE sql_text;
END;