Preface

The SQL*Plus (pronounced "sequel plus") User's Guide and Reference introduces SQL*Plus and its uses, and provides a description of each SQL*Plus command.

Unless explicitly stated otherwise, SQL*Plus refers to SQL*Plus behavior available through all its user interfaces: command-line, Windows Graphical User Interface and the iSQL*Plus web-based user interface.

This preface contains these topics:

Audience
Documentation Accessibility
Related Documents
Conventions

Audience

The SQL*Plus User's Guide and Reference is intended for business and technical users and system administrators who perform the following tasks:

Develop and run batch scripts
Format, calculate on, store, print and create web output from query results
Examine table and object definitions
Perform database administration

This document assumes a basic understanding of the SQL language. If you do not have familiarity with SQL, see the Oracle Database SQL Reference. If you plan to use PL/SQL in conjunction with SQL*Plus, see the Oracle Database PL/SQL User's Guide and Reference.

Documentation Accessibility

Our goal is to make Oracle products, services, and supporting documentation accessible, with good usability, to the disabled community. To that end, our documentation includes features that make information available to users of assistive technology. This documentation is available in HTML format, and contains markup to facilitate access by the disabled community. Accessibility standards will continue to evolve over time, and Oracle is actively engaged with other market-leading technology vendors to address technical obstacles so that our documentation can be accessible to all of our customers. For more information, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program Web site at

http://www.oracle.com/accessibility/

Accessibility of Code Examples in Documentation

Screen readers may not always correctly read the code examples in this document. The conventions for writing code require that closing braces should appear on an otherwise empty line; however, some screen readers may not always read a line of text that consists solely of a bracket or brace.

Accessibility of Links to External Web Sites in Documentation

This documentation may contain links to Web sites of other companies or organizations that Oracle does not own or control. Oracle neither evaluates nor makes any representations regarding the accessibility of these Web sites.

TTY Access to Oracle Support Services

Oracle provides dedicated Text Telephone (TTY) access to Oracle Support Services within the United States of America 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For TTY support, call 800.446.2398.

Related Documents

For more information, see these Oracle resources:

Many of the examples in this book use the sample schemas, which are installed by default when you select the Basic Installation option with an Oracle Database installation. See Oracle Database Sample Schemas for information on how these schemas were created and how you can use them yourself.

SQL*Plus error message documentation is available in SQL*Plus Error Messages. Oracle Database error message documentation is only available in HTML. If you only have access to the Oracle Database Documentation media, you can browse the Oracle Database error messages by range. Once you find the specific range, use your browser's "find in page" feature to locate the specific message. When connected to the Internet, you can search for a specific error message using the error message search feature of the Oracle Database online documentation.

Conventions

The following text conventions are used in this document:

Convention	Meaning
boldface	Boldface type indicates graphical user interface elements associated with an action, or terms defined in text or the glossary.
italic	Italic type indicates book titles, emphasis, or placeholder variables for which you supply particular values.
`monospace`	Monospace type indicates commands within a paragraph, URLs, code in examples, text that appears on the screen, or text that you enter.