SQL*Loader

Agenda
Overview
Data load methods
Architecture
Invoking SQL*Loader
Advantages
Disadvantages
Examples
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Overview

SQL*Loader is an oracle utility to load

large amount of data in to oracle
database. It reads the data from flat file
and insert into table.
SQL*Loader takes as input a control file,
which controls the behavior of
SQL*Loader, and one or more data files.
Output of the SQL*Loader is an Oracle
database (where the data is loaded), a
log file, a bad file, and potentially a
discard file.

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Data load methods

SQL*Loader provides two methods for

loading data

Conventional Load : Data reads

from the data file and inserted into
database using standard INSERT
statements.
Direct Load: Rather than load data
using a series of INSERT statements,
data being written directly into the
database data files.

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Direct Load

All table level triggers are disabled during

direct path load
During Direct path load some integrity
constraints are automatically disabled, others
are not.
The following constraints remain in force

NOT NULL
Unique
Primary Keys

The following constraints disabled

Check constraints
Foreign keys

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Architecture

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Log file

The log file is a record of SQL*Loaders

activities during a load session. It
contains the following information

The names of the control file, log file, bad

file, discard file, and data file
The values of several command-line
parameters
A detailed breakdown of the fields and
data types in the data file that was loaded
Error messages for records that cause
errors

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Log file
Messages indicating when records
have been discarded
A summary of the load that includes
the number of logical records read
from the data file, the number of rows
rejected because of errors, the
number of rows discarded because of
selection criteria, and the elapsed
time of the load
File extension is .log

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Bad file Vs Discard file

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Bad file

Bad file contains the records rejected

either by the sql*loader or oracle.
Ex:

If a delimited field exceeds the Specified

length
Unique constraint violation
Data type mismatch

File extension is .bad

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Discard File

The discard file contains records that

were filtered out of the load because
they did not match any recordselection criteria specified in the
control file.
Ex:

WHEN condition fails

File extension is .disc

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Invoking SQL*Loader

Sqlldr is a command used to invoke

the sqlloader
SQL*Loader is not case sensitive
Parameters on the command line may
be separated by spaces or commas
Ex:

sqlldr system/manager,control=product.ctl,log=product.log
sqlldr system/manager, control=product.ctl, log=product.log
sqlldr system/manager control=product.ctl log=product.log

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Contd..
USERID={username[/password][@net_service_name]|/}
CONTROL=control_file_name
LOG=path_file_name
BAD=path_file_name
DATA=path_file_name
DISCARD=path_file_name
DISCARDMAX=logical_record_count
SKIP=logical_record_count
LOAD=logical_record_count
ERRORS=insert_error_count
SILENT=[(]keyword[,keyword...][)]
DIRECT={TRUE | FALSE}
PARFILE=path_file_name
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Control file

Control file is the key to load the data. It

provides the following information to
SQL*Loader

Name and Location of input data file

Format of the records in the input data file
Name of the table(s) to be loaded
Correspondence between fields in file and
columns in table
Selection criteria defining which records from
the input file contain data to be inserted into
the destination database tables
Names and location of bad and discard files

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Control file

Control file has 3 main sections with 2

mandatory and 1 optional.

Session wide information (Mandatory)

Table and field list information
(Mandatory)
Input data (Optional)

File extension is .ctl

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Control file

The LOAD Statement tells the loader

what data to load, where to get it
from, where to put it, and how to
interpret it.

LOAD DATA syntax

{LOAD} [DATA]
[INFILE clause [INFILE clause...]]
[INSERT | APPEND | REPLACE | TRUNCATE]
INTO TABLE clause [INTO TABLE clause...]
[BEGINDATA]
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Control file

Specifying the Target Tables

INTO TABLE table_name

{INSERT | REPLACE | TRUNCATE | APPEND}
[OPTIONS (FILE=database_filename)]
[WHEN field_conditions]
[FIELDS [delimiter_description]]
[TRAILING [NULLCOLS]
[SKIP skip_count]
(field_list)

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Advantages

Can read multiple files in a single load

session
It supports a number of data types
Can load into multiple tables
Allows to use oracle functions to
manipulate data
Can load data into object tables, varrays
and nested tables
Can load into large object (LOB) columns

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Disadvantages

Low integration with pl/sql

Cant perform the updates while
loading
Hard to do conditional Translation
Does not have any direct file
operations but can be done with Unix
Schell script

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Loading Variable length data

LOAD DATA
INFILE *
INTO XX_SUP_STG
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ',' OPTIONALLY ENCLOSED BY '"'
(SUP_NUM, SUP_NAME, LOACTION)
BEGINDATA
1021,US acct LTD,USA
1202,Voda,IND

LOAD DATA statement specifies beginning of the control file

INFILE * specifies that the data is found in the control file
and not in an external file.
INTO TABLE specifies to load data into table
FIELDS TERMINATED BY specifies that the data is terminated
by commas, but may also be enclosed by quotation marks.
BEGINDATA specifies the beginning of the data.

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Loading Fixed length data

LOAD DATA
INFILE XX_DEPT_DATA.txt
INTO XX_SUP_STG
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ',' OPTIONALLY ENCLOSED BY '"'
(SUP_NUM, SUP_NAME, LOACTION)

LOAD DATA statement specifies beginning of the control

file
Name of the file containing data .
INTO TABLE specifies to load data into table
Lines 4 and 5 identify a column name and the location of
the data in the data file to be loaded into that column.
SUP_NUM, SUP_NAME, LOACTION are names of columns in table
XX_DEPT_STG. The datatypes (INTEGER EXTERNAL, CHAR)
identify the datatype of data fields in the file, not of
corresponding columns in the EMP table.

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Loading Combined physical

records
LOAD
DATA
INFILE XX_PO_DATA.dat'
DISCARDFILE XX_PO_DATA.dsc'
DISCARDMAX 999
REPLACE
CONTINUEIF THIS (1) = '*'
INTO TABLE XX_PO_STG
(SUP_NUM
POSITION(01:04) CHAR
, PO_NUM
POSITION(06:15) CHAR
, PO_TYPE
POSITION(16:21) CHAR
,QUANTITY
POSITION(22:30) DECIMAL EXTERNAL
,PRICE
POSITION(30:38) DECIMAL EXTERNAL
)

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Contd..

DISCARDFILE specifies the name of the discard

file as XX_PO_DATA.dat
DISCARDMAX specifies that a maximum of 999
discards are allowed before terminating the run.
REPLACE specifies that if there is data in the
table being loaded, SQL*Loader should delete
that data before loading new data.
CONTINUEIF specifies that if an asterisk is
found in column 1 of the current record, then
the next physical record after that record
should be appended to it to form the logical
record. Note that column 1 in each physical
record should then contain either an asterisk or
a non-data value

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Load data into multiple tables

LOAD DATA
INFILE XX_PO_DATA.dat'
DISCARDFILE XX_PO_DATA.dsc'
APPEND
INTO TABLE XX_PO_STG
WHEN PO_NUM !=
(SUP_NUM
POSITION(01:04) CHAR
, PO_NUM
POSITION(06:15) CHAR
,PO_TYPE
POSITION(16:21) CHAR
,QUANTITY
POSITION(22:30) DECIMAL EXTERNAL
,PRICE
POSITION(30:38) DECIMAL EXTERNAL
)
INTO TABLE XX_SUP_STG
WHEN SUP_NUM !=
(SUP_NUM
POSITION(01:04) CHAR
,SUP_NAME POSITION(39:45) CHAR
,LOACTION
POSITION(45:50) CHAR
)

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Contd..

APPEND specifies loader to add the

data for any data exists in table
multiple INTO loads data into 2 tables
WHEN loads into XX_PO_STG table
only with non blank po numbers and
loads into XX_SUP_STG table only
with non blank supplier numbers

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Load multiple files into table

LOAD DATA
INFILE XX_PO_DATA.dat
INFILE XX_PO_DATA1.dat
APPEND
INTO TABLE XX_PO_STG
(SUP_NUM
POSITION(01:04) CHAR
, PO_NUM
POSITION(06:15) CHAR
,PO_TYPE
POSITION(16:21) CHAR
,QUANTITY
POSITION(22:30) DECIMAL EXTERNAL
,PRICE
POSITION(30:38) DECIMAL EXTERNAL
)

Two INFILE statements load data into

single table

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