Oracle7 Server Tuning

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Conventions Used in this Manual

This section explains the conventions used in this manual including the following:

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Text

This section explains the conventions used within the text:

UPPERCASE Uppercase text is used to call attention to names of SQL, PL/SQL, and Server Manager commands, SQL keywords, filenames, and initialization parameters.
italics Italicized text is used to call to attention to definitions of terms and parameters of SQL commands. Italics are also used for emphasizing certain words.

Syntax Diagrams and Notation

The syntax diagrams and notation in this manual show the syntax for SQL commands, functions, hints, and other elements. This section tells you how to read syntax diagrams and examples and write SQL statements based on them. Syntax diagrams are made up of these items:

Keywords

Keywords are words that have special meanings in the SQL language. In the syntax diagrams in this manual, keywords appear in uppercase. You must use keywords in your SQL statements exactly as they appear in the syntax diagram, except that they can be either uppercase or lowercase. For example, you must use the CREATE keyword to begin your CREATE TABLE statements just as it appears in the CREATE TABLE syntax diagram.

Parameters

Parameters act as place holders in syntax diagrams. They appear in lowercase. Parameters are usually names of database objects, Oracle datatype names, or expressions. When you see a parameter in a syntax diagram, substitute an object or expression of the appropriate type in your SQL statement. For example, to write a CREATE TABLE statement, use the name of the table you want to create, such as EMP, in place of the table parameter in the syntax diagram. Note that parameter names appear in italics in the text.

This list shows parameters that appear in the syntax diagrams in this manual and examples of the values you might substitute for them in your statements:

Parameter Description Examples
table The substitution value must be the name of an object of the type specified by the parameter. emp
'text' The substitution value must be a character literal in single quotes. 'Employee records'
condition The substitution value must be a condition that evaluates to TRUE or FALSE. ename > 'A'
date d The substitution value must be a date constant or an expression of DATE datatype. TO_DATE( '01-Jan-1994', 'DD-MON-YYYY')
expr The substitution value can be an expression of any datatype. sal + 1000
integer The substitution value must be an integer. 72
rowid The substitution value must be an expression of datatype ROWID. 00000462.0001.0001
subquery The substitution value must be a SELECT statement contained in another SQL statement. SELECT ename FROM emp
statement_name block_name The substitution value must be an identifier for a SQL statement or PL/SQL block. s1 b1

Syntax Diagrams

Syntax diagrams use lines and arrows to show syntactic structure. This list shows combinations of lines and arrows and their meanings within syntax diagrams:

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