SQL*Plus Getting Started Release 8.0.4 for Windows NT and Windows 95 A55973-01 |
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This chapter provides introductory information to help you get started with SQL*Plus for Windows NT/95.
Specific topics discussed are:
You can use the SQL*Plus program in conjunction with the SQL database language and its procedural language extension, PL/SQL. The SQL database language allows you to store and retrieve data in Oracle databases. PL/SQL allows you to link several SQL commands through procedural logic.
SQL*Plus enables you to manipulate SQL commands and PL/SQL blocks, and to perform many additional tasks as well. Through SQL*Plus, you can:
SQL*Plus for Windows NT/95 provides both a command line interface and a graphical user interface (GUI).
The following definitions explain concepts central to SQL*Plus:
For definitions of other concepts that are relevant to SQL*Plus, see the glossary in the SQL*Plus User's Guide and Reference.
The SQL*Plus, SQL, and PL/SQL command languages are powerful enough to serve the needs of users with some database experience, yet straightforward enough for new users who are just learning to work with Oracle.
The design of the SQL*Plus command language makes it easy to use. For example, to give a column labelled ENAME in the database the clearer heading "Employee", you might enter the following command:
COLUMN ENAME HEADING EMPLOYEE
Similarly, to list the column definitions for a table called EMP, you might enter this command:
DESCRIBE EMP
The CD-ROM insert that accompanies your product CD-ROM contains the following information:
Installation of SQL*Plus version 8.0 does not overwrite previous versions of SQL*Plus that are installed. Therefore, more than one version of SQL*Plus can exist on the same computer. However, you may want to remove any previous versions.