Examining the Execution Plan of a SQL Statement
This section describes how to use the EXPLAIN PLAN feature with Oracle Query Window.
This section covers the following topics:
About EXPLAIN PLAN
Oracle Query Window functionality allows you to examine the execution plan that the database follows to execute a specified SQL statement. An execution plan is the sequence of operations Oracle performs to run the statement and is typically used by database experts to manually tune SQL statements. To automatically tune SQL statements, use SQL Tuning Advisor. See Tuning SQL in Query Window.
An execution plan, also known as EXPLAIN PLAN, displays execution plans chosen by the Oracle optimizer for the following statements:
-
SELECT -
INSERT -
UPDATE -
DELETE -
CREATETABLE -
CREATEINDEX -
ALTERINDEXREBUILD
To use this feature, you must understand the details of EXPLAIN PLAN which are described in the following guides.
Oracle® Database Performance Tuning Guide 11g Release 1 (11.1)
Oracle® Database SQL Reference 11g Release 1 (11.1)
If you wish to modify the default EXPLAIN PLAN functionality, set the options in the EXPLAIN PLAN Options Page before you execute the EXPLAIN PLAN. Executing SQL Statements Using Oracle Query Window describes how to open a SQL statement.