Thanks to all responders, particularly Jonathan. The first para of his first citation is:-
QUOTE
You've just taken on responsibility for a new database. New to you, that is -- the database has actually been running for some years. What's the first thing you want to do? If you're like me, you probably want to get a handle on just what it is that you have. What's in the database? How big is it? Who are the users and how many of them are there? The answers to all of these questions lie in the Oracle data dictionary.
UNQUOTE
How truly deeply true...
Tx & rgds, GStC.
-- --Original Message-- -- From: Jonathan Gennick [mailto:jonathan@(protected)] Sent: Monday, March 28, 2005 2:00 PM To: Graeme St. Clair Cc: oracle-l@(protected) Subject: Re: DESCRIBE?
Hello Graeme,
DESCRIBE is a command that has meaning only to Oracle's interactive query utility called "SQL*Plus".
To get information about a database from a Perl script, you can use the data dictionary tables. You might find the following article helpful:
You can also got to otn.oracle.com, dig for the Oracle documentation, and then for the "Oracle Database Reference" manual, and in that you will find comprehensive descriptions of all the data dictionary tables and columns.
Best regards,
Jonathan Gennick --- Brighten the corner where you are http://Gennick.com * 906.387.1698 * mailto:jonathan@(protected)
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Monday, March 28, 2005, 11:48:12 AM, Graeme St. Clair (Graeme.St.Clair@(protected)) wrote: GSC> I understand there is a "DESCRIBE my_data_base" command in Oracle GSC> SQL, and I assume it will return material describing the d-b in GSC> question. Right so far? If so, is it restricted in some way? I'm GSC> finding I can issue SELECT from a Perl script but not DESCRIBE - I GSC> get ORA-00900 (See ORA-00900.ora-code.com): invalid SQL statement GSC> (DBD: error possibly near <*> indicator at char 1 in '<*>DESCRIBE GSC> my_data_base').
