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FL Florida MN Maine 6 rows selected.
Notice the use of the asterisk in the select statement. The asterisk means ''retrieve data from all the columns" of a given table.
Rather than using the asterisk as we did in the previous example, we can specify one or more columns after the select command in a comma-separated list. Let's rewrite the previous query and only select the state_name column:
SQL> select state_name 2 from state; STATE_NAME ------------------------------ Arizona New Jersey California Texas Florida Maine 6 rows selected.
The semicolons in the two SQL examples force the immediate execution of the SQL statement within SQL*Plus. There are two ways in SQL*Plus to signify you have finished and that the SQL statement can be executed:
The semicolon at the end of a line
The slash on a separate line
Until SQL*Plus encounters either of these characters, it assumes you need an additional line. The following example highlights this point. Notice the use of the slash and semicolon.
SQL> select * 2 from a; SQL> select * 2 from a 3 /
The absence of the semicolon in the second example resulted in a new line. In these cases, the semicolon and slash on a separate line would force the execution of the statement.
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