8 SQL*Loader Control File Reference

Comments in the Control File

Comments can appear anywhere in the command section of the file, but they should not appear within the data. Precede any comment with two hyphens, for example:

--This is a comment

All text to the right of the double hyphen is ignored, until the end of the line.

OPTIONS Clause

The following command-line parameters can be specified using the OPTIONS clause. These parameters are described in greater detail in Chapter 7.

BINDSIZE = n
COLUMNARRAYROWS = n
DIRECT = {TRUE | FALSE} 
ERRORS = n
LOAD = n 
MULTITHREADING = {TRUE | FALSE}
PARALLEL = {TRUE | FALSE}
READSIZE = n
RESUMABLE = {TRUE | FALSE}
RESUMABLE_NAME = 'text string'
RESUMABLE_TIMEOUT = n
ROWS = n 
SILENT = {HEADER | FEEDBACK | ERRORS | DISCARDS | PARTITIONS | ALL} 
SKIP = n   
SKIP_INDEX_MAINTENANCE = {TRUE | FALSE}
SKIP_UNUSABLE_INDEXES = {TRUE | FALSE}
STREAMSIZE = n

The following is an example use of the OPTIONS clause that you could use in a SQL*Loader control file:

OPTIONS (BINDSIZE=100000, SILENT=(ERRORS, FEEDBACK) )

Filenames That Conflict with SQL and SQL*Loader Reserved Words

SQL and SQL*Loader reserved words must be specified within double quotation marks. The only SQL*Loader reserved word is CONSTANT.

You must use double quotation marks if the object name contains special characters other than those recognized by SQL ($, #, _), or if the name is case sensitive.

Specifying SQL Strings

You must specify SQL strings within double quotation marks. The SQL string applies SQL operators to data fields.

Operating System Considerations

The following sections discuss situations in which your course of action may depend on the operating system you are using.

INFILE 'homedir\data\"norm\mydata'

"so'\"far"     or  'so\'"far'     is parsed as   so'"far 
"'so\\far'"    or  '\'so\\far\''  is parsed as  'so\far' 
"so\\\\far"    or  'so\\\\far'    is parsed as   so\\far 

INFILE 'topdir\mydir\myfile'

Examples of INFILE Syntax

The following list shows different ways you can specify INFILE syntax:

• Data contained in the control file itself:

  INFILE  *
  
  

• Data contained in a file named sample with a default extension of .dat:

  INFILE  sample
  
  

• Data contained in a file named datafile.dat with a full path specified:

  INFILE 'c:/topdir/subdir/datafile.dat' 
  
  

  Note:

  Filenames that include spaces or punctuation marks must be enclosed in single quotation marks.

Specifying Multiple Datafiles

To load data from multiple datafiles in one SQL*Loader run, use an INFILE clause for each datafile. Datafiles need not have the same file processing options, although the layout of the records must be identical. For example, two files could be specified with completely different file processing options strings, and a third could consist of data in the control file.

You can also specify a separate discard file and bad file for each datafile. In such a case, the separate bad files and discard files must be declared immediately after each datafile name. For example, the following excerpt from a control file specifies four datafiles with separate bad and discard files:

INFILE  mydat1.dat  BADFILE  mydat1.bad  DISCARDFILE mydat1.dis 
INFILE  mydat2.dat 
INFILE  mydat3.dat  DISCARDFILE  mydat3.dis 
INFILE  mydat4.dat  DISCARDMAX  10 0

• For mydat1.dat, both a bad file and discard file are explicitly specified. Therefore both files are created, as needed.

• For mydat2.dat, neither a bad file nor a discard file is specified. Therefore, only the bad file is created, as needed. If created, the bad file has the default filename and extension mydat2.bad. The discard file is not created, even if rows are discarded.

• For mydat3.dat, the default bad file is created, if needed. A discard file with the specified name (mydat3.dis) is created, as needed.

• For mydat4.dat, the default bad file is created, if needed. Because the DISCARDMAX option is used, SQL*Loader assumes that a discard file is required and creates it with the default name mydat4.dsc.

Examples of Specifying a Bad File Name

To specify a bad file with filename sample and default file extension or file type of .bad, enter:

BADFILE sample 

To specify a bad file with filename bad0001 and file extension or file type of .rej, enter either of the following lines:

BADFILE bad0001.rej
BADFILE '/REJECT_DIR/bad0001.rej' 

How Bad Files Are Handled with LOBFILEs and SDFs

Data from LOBFILEs and SDFs is not written to a bad file when there are rejected rows. If there is an error loading a LOB, the row is not rejected. Rather, the LOB column is left empty (not null with a length of zero (0) bytes). However, when the LOBFILE is being used to load an XML column and there is an error loading this LOB data, then the XML column is left as null.

Criteria for Rejected Records

A record can be rejected for the following reasons:

1. Upon insertion, the record causes an Oracle error (such as invalid data for a given datatype).

2. The record is formatted incorrectly so that SQL*Loader cannot find field boundaries.

3. The record violates a constraint or tries to make a unique index non-unique.

If the data can be evaluated according to the WHEN clause criteria (even with unbalanced delimiters), then it is either inserted or rejected.

Neither a conventional path nor a direct path load will write a row to any table if it is rejected because of reason number 2 in the previous list.

Additionally, a conventional path load will not write a row to any tables if reason number 1 or 3 in the previous list is violated for any one table. The row is rejected for that table and written to the reject file.

The log file indicates the Oracle error for each rejected record. Case study 4 demonstrates rejected records. (See SQL*Loader Case Studies for information on how to access case studies.)

Specifying the Discard File in the Control File

To specify the name of the file, use the DISCARDFILE clause, followed by the filename.

The DISCARDFILE clause specifies that a discard filename follows.

The filename parameter specifies a valid filename specification for your platform. Any spaces or punctuation marks in the filename must be enclosed in single quotation marks.

The default filename is the name of the datafile, and the default file extension or file type is .dsc. A discard filename specified on the command line overrides one specified in the control file. If a discard file with that name already exists, it is either overwritten or a new version is created, depending on your operating system.

Specifying the Discard File from the Command Line

See DISCARD (filename) for information about how to specify a discard file from the command line.

A filename specified on the command line overrides any discard file that you may have specified in the control file.

Examples of Specifying a Discard File Name

The following list shows different ways you can specify a name for the discard file from within the control file:

• To specify a discard file with filename circular and default file extension or file type of .dsc:

  DISCARDFILE  circular 
  
  

• To specify a discard file named notappl with the file extension or file type of .may:

  DISCARDFILE notappl.may 
  
  

• To specify a full path to the discard file forget.me:

  DISCARDFILE  '/discard_dir/forget.me'
  

Criteria for Discarded Records

If there is no INTO TABLE clause specified for a record, the record is discarded. This situation occurs when every INTO TABLE clause in the SQL*Loader control file has a WHEN clause and, either the record fails to match any of them, or all fields are null.

No records are discarded if an INTO TABLE clause is specified without a WHEN clause. An attempt is made to insert every record into such a table. Therefore, records may be rejected, but none are discarded.

Case study 7, Extracting Data from a Formatted Report, provides an example of using a discard file. (See SQL*Loader Case Studies for information on how to access case studies.)

How Discard Files Are Handled with LOBFILEs and SDFs

Data from LOBFILEs and SDFs is not written to a discard file when there are discarded rows.

Limiting the Number of Discarded Records

You can limit the number of records to be discarded for each datafile by specifying an integer for either the DISCARDS or DISCARDMAX keyword.

When the discard limit is reached, processing of the datafile terminates and continues with the next datafile, if one exists.

You can specify a different number of discards for each datafile. Or, if you specify the number of discards only once, then the maximum number of discards specified applies to all files.

If you specify a maximum number of discards, but no discard filename, SQL*Loader creates a discard file with the default filename and file extension or file type.

Multibyte (Asian) Character Sets

Multibyte character sets support Asian languages. Data can be loaded in multibyte format, and database object names (fields, tables, and so on) can be specified with multibyte characters. In the control file, comments and object names can also use multibyte characters.

Unicode Character Sets

SQL*Loader supports loading data that is in a Unicode character set.

Unicode is a universal encoded character set that supports storage of information from most languages in a single character set. Unicode provides a unique code value for every character, regardless of the platform, program, or language. There are two different encodings for Unicode, UTF-16 and UTF-8.

The UTF-16 Unicode encoding is a fixed-width multibyte encoding in which the character codes 0x0000 through 0x007F have the same meaning as the single-byte ASCII codes 0x00 through 0x7F.

The UTF-8 Unicode encoding is a variable-width multibyte encoding in which the character codes 0x00 through 0x7F have the same meaning as ASCII. A character in UTF-8 can be 1 byte, 2 bytes, or 3 bytes long.

Database Character Sets

The Oracle database uses the database character set for data stored in SQL CHAR datatypes (CHAR, VARCHAR2, CLOB, and LONG), for identifiers such as table names, and for SQL statements and PL/SQL source code. Only single-byte character sets and varying-width character sets that include either ASCII or EBCDIC characters are supported as database character sets. Multibyte fixed-width character sets (for example, AL16UTF16) are not supported as the database character set.

An alternative character set can be used in the database for data stored in SQL NCHAR datatypes (NCHAR, NVARCHAR, and NCLOB). This alternative character set is called the database national character set. Only Unicode character sets are supported as the database national character set.

Datafile Character Sets

By default, the datafile is in the character set defined by the NLS_LANG parameter. The datafile character sets supported with NLS_LANG are the same as those supported as database character sets. SQL*Loader supports all Oracle-supported character sets in the datafile (even those not supported as database character sets).

For example, SQL*Loader supports multibyte fixed-width character sets (such as AL16UTF16 and JA16EUCFIXED) in the datafile. SQL*Loader also supports UTF-16 encoding with little-endian byte ordering. However, the Oracle database supports only UTF-16 encoding with big-endian byte ordering (AL16UTF16) and only as a database national character set, not as a database character set.

The character set of the datafile can be set up by using the NLS_LANG parameter or by specifying a SQL*Loader CHARACTERSET parameter.

Input Character Conversion

The default character set for all datafiles, if the CHARACTERSET parameter is not specified, is the session character set defined by the NLS_LANG parameter. The character set used in input datafiles can be specified with the CHARACTERSET parameter.

SQL*Loader has the capacity to automatically convert data from the datafile character set to the database character set or the database national character set, when they differ.

When data character set conversion is required, the target character set should be a superset of the source datafile character set. Otherwise, characters that have no equivalent in the target character set are converted to replacement characters, often a default character such as a question mark (?). This causes loss of data.

The sizes of the database character types CHAR and VARCHAR2 can be specified in bytes (byte-length semantics) or in characters (character-length semantics). If they are specified in bytes, and data character set conversion is required, the converted values may take more bytes than the source values if the target character set uses more bytes than the source character set for any character that is converted. This will result in the following error message being reported if the larger target value exceeds the size of the database column:

ORA-01401: inserted value too large for column

You can avoid this problem by specifying the database column size in characters and also by using character sizes in the control file to describe the data. Another way to avoid this problem is to ensure that the maximum column size is large enough, in bytes, to hold the converted value.

CHARACTERSET char_set_name 

INFILE myfile.dat "STR 'ab'"

INFILE myfile.dat "STR x'00410042'"

Character-Length Semantics

Byte-length semantics are the default for all datafiles except those that use the UTF16 character set (which uses character-length semantics by default). To override the default you can specify CHAR or CHARACTER, as shown in the following syntax:

Description of the illustration char_length.gif

The LENGTH parameter is placed after the CHARACTERSET parameter in the SQL*Loader control file. The LENGTH parameter applies to the syntax specification for primary datafiles as well as to LOBFILEs and secondary datafiles (SDFs). It is possible to specify different length semantics for different input datafiles. However, a LENGTH specification before the INFILE parameters applies to the entire list of primary datafiles. The LENGTH specification specified for the primary datafile is used as the default for LOBFILEs and SDFs. You can override that default by specifying LENGTH with the LOBFILE or SDF specification. Unlike the CHARACTERSET parameter, the LENGTH parameter can also apply to data contained within the control file itself (that is, INFILE * syntax).

You can specify CHARACTER instead of CHAR for the LENGTH parameter.

If character-length semantics are being used for a SQL*Loader datafile, then the following SQL*Loader datatypes will use character-length semantics:

• CHAR

• VARCHAR

• VARCHARC

• DATE

• EXTERNAL numerics (INTEGER, FLOAT, DECIMAL, and ZONED)

For the VARCHAR datatype, the length subfield is still a binary SMALLINT length subfield, but its value indicates the length of the character string in characters.

The following datatypes use byte-length semantics even if character-length semantics are being used for the datafile, because the data is binary, or is in a special binary-encoded form in the case of ZONED and DECIMAL:

• INTEGER

• SMALLINT

• FLOAT

• DOUBLE

• BYTEINT

• ZONED

• DECIMAL

• RAW

• VARRAW

• VARRAWC

• GRAPHIC

• GRAPHIC EXTERNAL

• VARGRAPHIC

The start and end arguments to the POSITION parameter are interpreted in bytes, even if character-length semantics are in use in a datafile. This is necessary to handle datafiles that have a mix of data of different datatypes, some of which use character-length semantics, and some of which use byte-length semantics. It is also needed to handle position with the VARCHAR datatype, which has a SMALLINT length field and then the character data. The SMALLINT length field takes up a certain number of bytes depending on the system (usually 2 bytes), but its value indicates the length of the character string in characters.

Character-length semantics in the datafile can be used independent of whether or not character-length semantics are used for the database columns. Therefore, the datafile and the database columns can use either the same or different length semantics.

Discontinued Conventional Path Loads

In a conventional path load, data is committed after all data in the bind array is loaded into all tables. If the load is discontinued, only the rows that were processed up to the time of the last commit operation are loaded. There is no partial commit of data.

Discontinued Direct Path Loads

In a direct path load, the behavior of a discontinued load varies depending on the reason the load was discontinued:

• Load Discontinued Because of Space Errors

• Load Discontinued Because Maximum Number of Errors Exceeded

• Load Discontinued Because of Fatal Errors

• Load Discontinued Because a Ctrl+C Was Issued

Status of Tables and Indexes After an Interrupted Load

When a load is discontinued, any data already loaded remains in the tables, and the tables are left in a valid state. If the conventional path is used, all indexes are left in a valid state.

If the direct path load method is used, any indexes that run out of space are left in an unusable state. You must drop these indexes before the load can continue. You can re-create the indexes either before continuing or after the load completes.

Other indexes are valid if no other errors occurred. See Indexes Left in an Unusable State for other reasons why an index might be left in an unusable state.

Using the Log File to Determine Load Status

The SQL*Loader log file tells you the state of the tables and indexes and the number of logical records already read from the input datafile. Use this information to resume the load where it left off.

Continuing Single-Table Loads

When SQL*Loader must discontinue a direct path or conventional path load before it is finished, some rows have probably already been committed or marked with savepoints. To continue the discontinued load, use the SKIP parameter to specify the number of logical records that have already been processed by the previous load. At the time the load is discontinued, the value for SKIP is written to the log file in a message similar to the following:

Specify SKIP=1001 when continuing the load.

This message specifying the value of the SKIP parameter is preceded by a message indicating why the load was discontinued.

Note that for multiple-table loads, the value of the SKIP parameter is displayed only if it is the same for all tables.

Using CONCATENATE to Assemble Logical Records

Use CONCATENATE when you want SQL*Loader to always combine the same number of physical records to form one logical record. In the following example, integer specifies the number of physical records to combine.

CONCATENATE  integer 

The integer value specified for CONCATENATE determines the number of physical record structures that SQL*Loader allocates for each row in the column array. Because the default value for COLUMNARRAYROWS is large, if you also specify a large value for CONCATENATE, then excessive memory allocation can occur. If this happens, you can improve performance by reducing the value of the COLUMNARRAYROWS parameter to lower the number of rows in a column array.

Using CONTINUEIF to Assemble Logical Records

Use CONTINUEIF if the number of physical records to be combined varies. The CONTINUEIF clause is followed by a condition that is evaluated for each physical record, as it is read. For example, two records might be combined if a pound sign (#) were in byte position 80 of the first record. If any other character were there, the second record would not be added to the first.

The full syntax for CONTINUEIF adds even more flexibility:

Table 8-2 describes the parameters for the CONTINUEIF clause.

The positions in the CONTINUEIF clause refer to positions in each physical record. This is the only time you refer to positions in physical records. All other references are to logical records.

For CONTINUEIF THIS and CONTINUEIF LAST, if the PRESERVE parameter is not specified, the continuation field is removed from all physical records when the logical record is assembled. That is, data values are allowed to span the records with no extra characters (continuation characters) in the middle. For example, if CONTINUEIF THIS(3:5)='***' is specified, then positions 3 through 5 are removed from all records. This means that the continuation characters are removed if they are in positions 3 through 5 of the record. It also means that the characters in positions 3 through 5 are removed from the record even if the continuation characters are not in positions 3 through 5.

For CONTINUEIF THIS and CONTINUEIF LAST, if the PRESERVE parameter is used, the continuation field is kept in all physical records when the logical record is assembled.

CONTINUEIF LAST differs from CONTINUEIF THIS and CONTINUEIF NEXT. For CONTINUEIF LAST, where the positions of the continuation field vary from record to record, the continuation field is never removed, even if PRESERVE is not specified.

Example 8-3 through Example 8-6 show the use of CONTINUEIF THIS and CONTINUEIF NEXT, with and without the PRESERVE parameter.

%%aaaaaaaa....
        %%bbbbbbbb....
        ..cccccccc....
        %%dddddddddd..
        %%eeeeeeeeee..
        ..ffffffffff..

CONTINUEIF THIS (1:2) = '%%'

aaaaaaaa....bbbbbbbb....cccccccc....
        dddddddddd..eeeeeeeeee..ffffffffff..

CONTINUEIF THIS PRESERVE (1:2) = '%%'

%%aaaaaaaa....%%bbbbbbbb......cccccccc....
        %%dddddddddd..%%eeeeeeeeee....ffffffffff..

..aaaaaaaa....
        %%bbbbbbbb....
        %%cccccccc....
        ..dddddddddd..
        %%eeeeeeeeee..
        %%ffffffffff..

CONTINUEIF NEXT (1:2) = '%%'

aaaaaaaa....bbbbbbbb....cccccccc....
        dddddddddd..eeeeeeeeee..ffffffffff..

CONTINUEIF NEXT PRESERVE (1:2) = '%%'

..aaaaaaaa....%%bbbbbbbb....%%cccccccc....
        ..dddddddddd..%%eeeeeeeeee..%%ffffffffff..

Specifying Table Names

The INTO TABLE clause of the LOAD DATA statement enables you to identify tables, fields, and datatypes. It defines the relationship between records in the datafile and tables in the database. The specification of fields and datatypes is described in later sections.

INTO TABLE Clause

Among its many functions, the INTO TABLE clause enables you to specify the table into which you load data. To load multiple tables, you include one INTO TABLE clause for each table you wish to load.

To begin an INTO TABLE clause, use the keywords INTO TABLE, followed by the name of the Oracle table that is to receive the data.

The syntax is as follows:

Description of the illustration into_table1.gif

The table must already exist. The table name should be enclosed in double quotation marks if it is the same as any SQL or SQL*Loader reserved keyword, if it contains any special characters, or if it is case sensitive.

INTO TABLE scott."CONSTANT"
INTO TABLE scott."Constant" 
INTO TABLE scott."-CONSTANT" 

The user must have INSERT privileges for the table being loaded. If the table is not in the user's schema, then the user must either use a synonym to reference the table or include the schema name as part of the table name (for example, scott.emp refers to the table emp in the scott schema).

Note:

SQL*Loader considers the default schema to be whatever schema is current after your connect to the database finishes executing. This means that the default schema will not necessarily be the one you specified in the connect string, if there are logon triggers present that get executed during connection to a database.

If you have a logon trigger that changes your current schema to a different one when you connect to a certain database, then SQL*Loader uses that new schema as the default.

Table-Specific Loading Method

When you are loading a table, you can use the INTO TABLE clause to specify a table-specific loading method (INSERT, APPEND, REPLACE, or TRUNCATE) that applies only to that table. That method overrides the global table-loading method. The global table-loading method is INSERT, by default, unless a different method was specified before any INTO TABLE clauses. The following sections discuss using these options to load data into empty and nonempty tables.

Table-Specific OPTIONS Parameter

The OPTIONS parameter can be specified for individual tables in a parallel load. (It is valid only for a parallel load.)

The syntax for the OPTIONS parameter is as follows:

Loading Records Based on a Condition

You can choose to load or discard a logical record by using the WHEN clause to test a condition in the record.

The WHEN clause appears after the table name and is followed by one or more field conditions. The syntax for field_condition is as follows:

For example, the following clause indicates that any record with the value "q" in the fifth column position should be loaded:

WHEN (5) = 'q' 

A WHEN clause can contain several comparisons, provided each is preceded by AND. Parentheses are optional, but should be used for clarity with multiple comparisons joined by AND, for example:

WHEN (deptno = '10') AND (job = 'SALES') 

Specifying Default Data Delimiters

If all data fields are terminated similarly in the datafile, you can use the FIELDS clause to indicate the default delimiters. The syntax for the fields_spec, termination_spec, and enclosure_spec clauses is as follows:

Handling Short Records with Missing Data

When the control file definition specifies more fields for a record than are present in the record, SQL*Loader must determine whether the remaining (specified) columns should be considered null or whether an error should be generated.

If the control file definition explicitly states that a field's starting position is beyond the end of the logical record, then SQL*Loader always defines the field as null. If a field is defined with a relative position (such as dname and loc in the following example), and the record ends before the field is found, then SQL*Loader could either treat the field as null or generate an error. SQL*Loader uses the presence or absence of the TRAILING NULLCOLS clause (shown in the following syntax diagram) to determine the course of action.

Description of the illustration into_table6.gif

Description of the illustration into_table7.gif

10 Accounting 

INTO TABLE dept 
    TRAILING NULLCOLS 
( deptno CHAR TERMINATED BY " ", 
  dname  CHAR TERMINATED BY WHITESPACE, 
  loc    CHAR TERMINATED BY WHITESPACE 
) 

SORTED INDEXES Clause

The SORTED INDEXES clause applies to direct path loads. It tells SQL*Loader that the incoming data has already been sorted on the specified indexes, allowing SQL*Loader to optimize performance.

SINGLEROW Option

The SINGLEROW option is intended for use during a direct path load with APPEND on systems with limited memory, or when loading a small number of records into a large table. This option inserts each index entry directly into the index, one record at a time.

By default, SQL*Loader does not use SINGLEROW to append records to a table. Instead, index entries are put into a separate, temporary storage area and merged with the original index at the end of the load. This method achieves better performance and produces an optimal index, but it requires extra storage space. During the merge operation, the original index, the new index, and the space for new entries all simultaneously occupy storage space.

With the SINGLEROW option, storage space is not required for new index entries or for a new index. The resulting index may not be as optimal as a freshly sorted one, but it takes less space to produce. It also takes more time because additional UNDO information is generated for each index insert. This option is suggested for use when either of the following situations exists:

• Available storage is limited.

• The number of records to be loaded is small compared to the size of the table (a ratio of 1:20 or less is recommended).

Extracting Multiple Logical Records

Some data storage and transfer media have fixed-length physical records. When the data records are short, more than one can be stored in a single, physical record to use the storage space efficiently.

In this example, SQL*Loader treats a single physical record in the input file as two logical records and uses two INTO TABLE clauses to load the data into the emp table. For example, assume the data is as follows:

1119 Smith      1120 Yvonne 
1121 Albert     1130 Thomas 

The following control file extracts the logical records:

INTO TABLE emp 
     (empno POSITION(1:4)  INTEGER EXTERNAL, 
      ename POSITION(6:15) CHAR) 
INTO TABLE emp 
     (empno POSITION(17:20) INTEGER EXTERNAL, 
      ename POSITION(21:30) CHAR) 

INTO TABLE emp 
     (empno INTEGER EXTERNAL TERMINATED BY " ", 
      ename CHAR             TERMINATED BY WHITESPACE) 
INTO TABLE emp 
     (empno INTEGER EXTERNAL TERMINATED BY " ", 
      ename CHAR)            TERMINATED BY WHITESPACE) 

Distinguishing Different Input Record Formats

A single datafile might contain records in a variety of formats. Consider the following data, in which emp and dept records are intermixed:

1 50   Manufacturing       — DEPT record 
2 1119 Smith      50       — EMP record 
2 1120 Snyder     50 
1 60   Shipping 
2 1121 Stevens    60 

A record ID field distinguishes between the two formats. Department records have a 1 in the first column, while employee records have a 2. The following control file uses exact positioning to load this data:

INTO TABLE dept 
   WHEN recid = 1 
   (recid  FILLER POSITION(1:1)  INTEGER EXTERNAL,
    deptno POSITION(3:4)  INTEGER EXTERNAL, 
    dname  POSITION(8:21) CHAR) 
INTO TABLE emp 
   WHEN recid <> 1 
   (recid  FILLER POSITION(1:1)   INTEGER EXTERNAL,
    empno  POSITION(3:6)   INTEGER EXTERNAL, 
    ename  POSITION(8:17)  CHAR, 
    deptno POSITION(19:20) INTEGER EXTERNAL) 

INTO TABLE dept 
   WHEN recid = 1 
   (recid  FILLER INTEGER EXTERNAL TERMINATED BY WHITESPACE, 
    deptno INTEGER EXTERNAL TERMINATED BY WHITESPACE, 
    dname  CHAR TERMINATED BY WHITESPACE) 
INTO TABLE emp 
   WHEN recid <> 1 
   (recid  FILLER POSITION(1) INTEGER EXTERNAL TERMINATED BY ' ', 
    empno  INTEGER EXTERNAL TERMINATED BY ' ' 
    ename  CHAR TERMINATED BY WHITESPACE, 
    deptno INTEGER EXTERNAL TERMINATED BY ' ') 

Distinguishing Different Input Row Object Subtypes

A single datafile may contain records made up of row objects inherited from the same base row object type. For example, consider the following simple object type and object table definitions, in which a nonfinal base object type is defined along with two object subtypes that inherit their row objects from the base type:

CREATE TYPE person_t AS OBJECT 
 (name    VARCHAR2(30), 
  age     NUMBER(3)) not final; 

CREATE TYPE employee_t UNDER person_t 
 (empid   NUMBER(5), 
  deptno  NUMBER(4), 
  dept    VARCHAR2(30)) not final; 

CREATE TYPE student_t UNDER person_t 
 (stdid   NUMBER(5), 
  major   VARCHAR2(20)) not final; 

CREATE TABLE persons OF person_t;

The following input datafile contains a mixture of these row objects subtypes. A type ID field distinguishes between the three subtypes. person_t objects have a P in the first column, employee_t objects have an E, and student_t objects have an S.

P,James,31, 
P,Thomas,22, 
E,Pat,38,93645,1122,Engineering, 
P,Bill,19, 
P,Scott,55, 
S,Judy,45,27316,English, 
S,Karen,34,80356,History, 
E,Karen,61,90056,1323,Manufacturing, 
S,Pat,29,98625,Spanish, 
S,Cody,22,99743,Math, 
P,Ted,43, 
E,Judy,44,87616,1544,Accounting, 
E,Bob,50,63421,1314,Shipping, 
S,Bob,32,67420,Psychology, 
E,Cody,33,25143,1002,Human Resources,

The following control file uses relative positioning based on the POSITION parameter to load this data. Note the use of the TREAT AS clause with a specific object type name. This informs SQL*Loader that all input row objects for the object table will conform to the definition of the named object type.

INTO TABLE persons 
REPLACE 
WHEN typid = 'P' TREAT AS person_t 
FIELDS TERMINATED BY "," 
 (typid   FILLER  POSITION(1) CHAR, 
  name            CHAR, 
  age             CHAR) 

INTO TABLE persons 
REPLACE 
WHEN typid = 'E' TREAT AS employee_t 
FIELDS TERMINATED BY "," 
 (typid   FILLER  POSITION(1) CHAR, 
  name            CHAR, 
  age             CHAR, 
  empid           CHAR, 
  deptno          CHAR, 
  dept            CHAR) 

INTO TABLE persons 
REPLACE 
WHEN typid = 'S' TREAT AS student_t 
FIELDS TERMINATED BY "," 
 (typid   FILLER  POSITION(1) CHAR, 
  name            CHAR, 
  age             CHAR, 
  stdid           CHAR, 
  major           CHAR)

Loading Data into Multiple Tables

By using the POSITION parameter with multiple INTO TABLE clauses, data from a single record can be loaded into multiple normalized tables. See case study 5, Loading Data into Multiple Tables, for an example. (See SQL*Loader Case Studies for information about how to access case studies.).

Summary

Multiple INTO TABLE clauses allow you to extract multiple logical records from a single input record and recognize different record formats in the same file.

For delimited data, proper use of the POSITION parameter is essential for achieving the expected results.

When the POSITION parameter is not used, multiple INTO TABLE clauses process different parts of the same (delimited data) input record, allowing multiple tables to be loaded from one record. When the POSITION parameter is used, multiple INTO TABLE clauses can process the same record in different ways, allowing multiple formats to be recognized in one input file.

Size Requirements for Bind Arrays

The bind array must be large enough to contain a single row. If the maximum row length exceeds the size of the bind array, as specified by the BINDSIZE parameter, SQL*Loader generates an error. Otherwise, the bind array contains as many rows as can fit within it, up to the limit set by the value of the ROWS parameter.

The BINDSIZE and ROWS parameters are described in Command-Line Parameters.

Although the entire bind array need not be in contiguous memory, the buffer for each field in the bind array must occupy contiguous memory. If the operating system cannot supply enough contiguous memory to store a field, SQL*Loader generates an error.

Performance Implications of Bind Arrays

Large bind arrays minimize the number of calls to the Oracle database and maximize performance. In general, you gain large improvements in performance with each increase in the bind array size up to 100 rows. Increasing the bind array size to be greater than 100 rows generally delivers more modest improvements in performance. The size (in bytes) of 100 rows is typically a good value to use.

In general, any reasonably large size permits SQL*Loader to operate effectively. It is not usually necessary to perform the detailed calculations described in this section. Read this section when you need maximum performance or an explanation of memory usage.

Specifying Number of Rows Versus Size of Bind Array

When you specify a bind array size using the command-line parameter BINDSIZE (see BINDSIZE (maximum size)) or the OPTIONS clause in the control file (see OPTIONS Clause), you impose an upper limit on the bind array. The bind array never exceeds that maximum.

As part of its initialization, SQL*Loader determines the size in bytes required to load a single row. If that size is too large to fit within the specified maximum, the load terminates with an error.

SQL*Loader then multiplies that size by the number of rows for the load, whether that value was specified with the command-line parameter ROWS (see ROWS (rows per commit)) or the OPTIONS clause in the control file (see OPTIONS Clause).

If that size fits within the bind array maximum, the load continues—SQL*Loader does not try to expand the number of rows to reach the maximum bind array size. If the number of rows and the maximum bind array size are both specified, SQL*Loader always uses the smaller value for the bind array.

If the maximum bind array size is too small to accommodate the initial number of rows, SQL*Loader uses a smaller number of rows that fits within the maximum.

Calculations to Determine Bind Array Size

The bind array's size is equivalent to the number of rows it contains times the maximum length of each row. The maximum length of a row is equal to the sum of the maximum field lengths, plus overhead, as follows:

bind array size =
    (number of rows) * (  SUM(fixed field lengths)
                        + SUM(maximum varying field lengths)
                        + ( (number of varying length fields)
                             * (size of length indicator) )
                       )

Many fields do not vary in size. These fixed-length fields are the same for each loaded row. For these fields, the maximum length of the field is the field size, in bytes, as described in SQL*Loader Datatypes. There is no overhead for these fields.

The fields that can vary in size from row to row are:

• CHAR

• DATE

• INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND

• INTERVAL DAY TO YEAR

• LONG VARRAW

• numeric EXTERNAL

• TIME

• TIMESTAMP

• TIME WITH TIME ZONE

• TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE

• VARCHAR

• VARCHARC

• VARGRAPHIC

• VARRAW

• VARRAWC

The maximum length of these datatypes is described in SQL*Loader Datatypes. The maximum lengths describe the number of bytes that the fields can occupy in the input data record. That length also describes the amount of storage that each field occupies in the bind array, but the bind array includes additional overhead for fields that can vary in size.

When the character datatypes (CHAR, DATE, and numeric EXTERNAL) are specified with delimiters, any lengths specified for these fields are maximum lengths. When specified without delimiters, the size in the record is fixed, but the size of the inserted field may still vary, due to whitespace trimming. So internally, these datatypes are always treated as varying-length fields—even when they are fixed-length fields.

A length indicator is included for each of these fields in the bind array. The space reserved for the field in the bind array is large enough to hold the longest possible value of the field. The length indicator gives the actual length of the field for each row.

OPTIONS (ROWS=1) 
LOAD DATA 
INFILE * 
APPEND 
INTO TABLE DEPT 
(deptno POSITION(1:1) CHAR(1)) 
BEGINDATA 
a 

Minimizing Memory Requirements for Bind Arrays

Pay particular attention to the default sizes allocated for VARCHAR, VARGRAPHIC, and the delimited forms of CHAR, DATE, and numeric EXTERNAL fields. They can consume enormous amounts of memory—especially when multiplied by the number of rows in the bind array. It is best to specify the smallest possible maximum length for these fields. Consider the following example:

CHAR(10) TERMINATED BY "," 

With byte-length semantics, this example uses (10 + 2) * 64 = 768 bytes in the bind array, assuming that the length indicator is 2 bytes long and that 64 rows are loaded at a time.

With character-length semantics, the same example uses ((10 * s) + 2) * 64 bytes in the bind array, where "s" is the maximum size in bytes of a character in the datafile character set.

Now consider the following example:

CHAR TERMINATED BY "," 

Regardless of whether byte-length semantics or character-length semantics are used, this example uses (255 + 2) * 64 = 16,448 bytes, because the default maximum size for a delimited field is 255 bytes. This can make a considerable difference in the number of rows that fit into the bind array.

Calculating Bind Array Size for Multiple INTO TABLE Clauses

When calculating a bind array size for a control file that has multiple INTO TABLE clauses, calculate as if the INTO TABLE clauses were not present. Imagine all of the fields listed in the control file as one, long data structure—that is, the format of a single row in the bind array.

If the same field in the data record is mentioned in multiple INTO TABLE clauses, additional space in the bind array is required each time it is mentioned. It is especially important to minimize the buffer allocations for such fields.