SQL Loader:

SQL LOADER is an Oracle utility used to load data into table given a datafile which has the
records that need to be loaded. SQL*Loader takes data file, as well as a control file, to insert
data into the table. When a Control file is executed, it can create Three (3) files called log
file, bad file or reject file, discard file.

Log file tells you the state of the tables and indexes and the number of logical records
already read from the input datafile. This information can be used to resume the load
where it left off.
Bad file or reject file gives you the records that were rejected because of formatting errors
or because they caused Oracle errors.
Discard file specifies the records that do not meet any of the loading criteria like when any
of the WHEN clauses specified in the control file. These records differ from rejected records.
Structure of the data file:
The data file can be in fixed record format or variable record format.
Fixed Record Format would look like the below. In this case you give a specific position
where the Control file can expect a data field:
7369 SMITH

CLERK

7902 12/17/1980

7499 ALLEN

SALESMAN 7698 2/20/1981

1600

7521 WARD

SALESMAN 7698 2/22/1981

1250

7566 JONES

MANAGER 7839 4/2/1981

2975

7654 MARTIN SALESMAN 7698 9/28/1981

800

1250

7698 BLAKE

MANAGER 7839 5/1/1981

2850

7782 CLARK

MANAGER 7839 6/9/1981

2450

7788 SCOTT

ANALYST 7566 12/9/1982

7839 KING

PRESIDENT

11/17/1981

7844 TURNER SALESMAN 7698 9/8/1981

3000
5000
1500

7876 ADAMS

CLERK

7788 1/12/1983

1100

7900 JAMES

CLERK

7698 12/3/1981

950

7902 FORD

ANALYST

7566 12/3/1981

3000

7934 MILLER

CLERK

7782 1/23/1982

1300

Variable Record Format would like below where the data fields are separated by a delimiter.
Note: The Delimiter can be anything you like. In this case it is |
1196700|9|0|692.64
1378901|2|3900|488.62
1418700|2|2320|467.92
1418702|14|8740|4056.36
1499100|1|0|3.68
1632800|3|0|1866.66
1632900|1|70|12.64
1637600|50|0|755.5
Structure of a Control file:
Sample CTL file for loading a Variable record data file:

OPTIONS (SKIP = 1)

--The first row in the data file is skipped

without loading
LOAD DATA
INFILE '$FILE'

-- Specify the data file

path and name

APPEND
REPLACE, TRUNCATE

-- type of loading (INSERT, APPEND,

INTO TABLE "APPS"."BUDGET"

-- the table to be loaded into

FIELDS TERMINATED BY '|'

variable format datafile
OPTIONALLY ENCLOSED BY '"'
enclosed in "

-- Specify the delimiter if

--the values of the data fields may be

TRAILING NULLCOLS
treated as null
(ITEM_NUMBER
on columns

-- columns that are not present in the record

"TRIM(:ITEM_NUMBER)", -- Can use all SQL functions

QTY

DECIMAL EXTERNAL,

REVENUE

DECIMAL EXTERNAL,

EXT_COST
DECIMAL EXTERNAL TERMINATED BY WHITESPACE
"(TRIM(:EXT_COST))" ,
MONTH
YY')" ,

"to_char(LAST_DAY(ADD_MONTHS(SYSDATE,-1)),'DD-MON-

DIVISION_CODE
CONSTANT "AUD" -- Can specify constant value
instead of Getting value from datafile
)

OPTION statement precedes the LOAD DATA statement. The OPTIONS parameter allows
you to specify runtime arguments in the control file, rather than on the command line. The
following arguments can be specified using the OPTIONS parameter.
SKIP = n Number of logical records to skip (Default 0)
LOAD = n Number of logical records to load (Default all)
ERRORS = n Number of errors to allow (Default 50)
ROWS = n Number of rows in conventional path bind array or between direct path data
saves (Default: Conventional Path 64, Direct path all)
BINDSIZE = n Size of conventional path bind array in bytes (System-dependent default)
SILENT = {FEEDBACK | ERRORS | DISCARDS | ALL} Suppress messages during run
(header, feedback, errors, discards, partitions, all)
DIRECT = {TRUE | FALSE} Use direct path (Default FALSE)
PARALLEL = {TRUE | FALSE} Perform parallel load (Default FALSE)

LOADDATA statement is required at the beginning of the control file.

INFILE: INFILE keyword is used to specify location of the datafile or datafiles.
INFILE* specifies that the data is found in the control file and not in an external file. INFILE
$FILE, can be used to send the filepath and filename as a parameter when registered as a
concurrent program.
INFILE /home/vision/kap/import2.csv specifies the filepath and the filename.
Example where datafile is an external file:
LOAD DATA
INFILE /home/vision/kap/import2.csv
INTO TABLE kap_emp
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ,
( emp_num, emp_name, department_num, department_name )
Example where datafile is in the Control file:
LOAD DATA
INFILE *
INTO TABLE kap_emp
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ,
( emp_num, emp_name, department_num, department_name )
BEGINDATA
7369,SMITH,7902,Accounting
7499,ALLEN,7698,Sales
7521,WARD,7698,Accounting
7566,JONES,7839,Sales
7654,MARTIN,7698,Accounting
Example where file name and path is sent as a parameter when registered as a concurrent
program
LOAD DATA
INFILE $FILE
INTO TABLE kap_emp

FIELDS TERMINATED BY ,
( emp_num, emp_name, department_num, department_name )
TYPE OF LOADING:
INSERT If the table you are loading is empty, INSERT can be used.
APPEND If data already exists in the table, SQL*Loader appends the new rows to it. If
data doesnt already exist, the new rows are simply loaded.
REPLACE All rows in the table are deleted and the new data is loaded
TRUNCATE SQL*Loader uses the SQL TRUNCATE command.
INTO TABLE is required to identify the table to be loaded into. In the above example INTO
TABLE APPS.BUDGET, APPS refers to the Schema and BUDGET is the Table name.
FIELDS TERMINATED BY specifies how the data fields are terminated in the datafile.(If the
file is Comma delimited or Pipe delimited etc)
OPTIONALLY ENCLOSED BY specifies that data fields may also be enclosed by quotation
marks.
TRAILING NULLCOLS clause tells SQL*Loader to treat any relatively positioned columns that
are not present in the record as null columns.
Loading a fixed format data file:
LOAD DATA
INFILE sample.dat
INTO TABLE emp
( empno
ename
job
mgr
sal

POSITION(01:04) INTEGER EXTERNAL,

POSITION(06:15) CHAR,
POSITION(17:25) CHAR,
POSITION(27:30) INTEGER EXTERNAL,
POSITION(32:39) DECIMAL EXTERNAL,

comm

POSITION(41:48) DECIMAL EXTERNAL,

deptno

POSITION(50:51) INTEGER EXTERNAL)

Steps to Run the SQL* LOADER from UNIX:

At the prompt, invoke SQL*Loader as follows:

sqlldr USERID=scott/tiger CONTROL=<control filename> LOG=<Log file name>

SQL*Loader loads the tables, creates the log file, and returns you to the system prompt. You
can check the log file to see the results of running the case study.
Register as concurrent Program:
Place the Control file in $CUSTOM_TOP/bin.
Define the Executable. Give the Execution Method as SQL*LOADER.
Define the Program. Add the Parameter for FILENAME.
Skip columns:
You can skip columns using the FILLER option.
Load Data

TRAILING NULLCOLS
(
name Filler,
Empno ,
sal
)
here the column name will be skipped.
1) Load multiple files into a single table:
SQL LOADER lets you load multiple data files at once into a single table. But all the data files
should be of the same format.
Here is a working example:
Say you have a table named EMP which has the below structure:
Column

Data Type

emp_num

Number

emp_name Varchar2(25)

department_num

Number

department_name Varchar2(25)
You are trying to load the below comma delimited data files named eg.dat and eg1.dat:
eg.dat:
7369,SMITH,7902,Accounting
7499,ALLEN,7698,Sales
7521,WARD,7698,Accounting
7566,JONES,7839,Sales
7654,MARTIN,7698,Accounting
eg1.dat:
1234,Tom,2345,Accounting
3456,Berry,8976,Accounting
The Control file should be built as below:
LOAD DATA
INFILE eg.dat File 1
INFILE eg1.dat File 2
APPEND
INTO TABLE emp
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ,
( emp_num, emp_name, department_num, department_name )
2) Load a single file into multiple tables:
SQL Loader lets you load a single data file into multiple tables using INTO TABLE clause.
Here is a working example:
Say you have two tables named EMP and DEPT which have the below structure:
Table Column

Data Type

EMP emp_num

Number

EMP emp_name Varchar2(25)

DEPT department_num

Number

DEPT department_name Varchar2(25)

You are trying to load the below comma delimited data file named eg.dat which has
columns Emp_num and emp_name that need to be loaded into table EMP and columns
department_num and department_name that need to be loaded into table DEPT using a
single CTL file here.
eg.dat:
7369,SMITH,7902,Accounting
7499,ALLEN,7698,Sales
7521,WARD,7698,Accounting
7566,JONES,7839,Sales
7654,MARTIN,7698,Accounting
The Control file should be built as below:
LOAD DATA
INFILE eg.dat
APPEND
INTO TABLE emp
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ,
( emp_num, emp_name )
INTO TABLE dept
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ,
(department_num, department_name)
You can further use WHEN clause to selectively load the records into the tables which will
be explained later in this article.
3) Skip a column while loading using FILLER and Load field in the delimited data file into
two different columns in a table using POSITION
SQL LOADER lets to skip unwanted fields in the data file by using the FILLER clause. Filler
was introduced in Oracle 8i.
SQL LOADER also lets you load the same field into two different columns of the table.
If the data file is position based, loading the same field into two different columns is pretty
straight forward. You can use Position (start_pos:end_pos) keyword

If the data file is a delimited file and it has a header included in it, then this can be achieved
by referring the field preceded with : eg description (:emp_name).
If the data file is delimited file without a header included in it, Position (start_pos:end_pos)
or (:field) will not work. This can be achieved using POSITION (1) clause which takes you to
the beginning of the record.
Here is a Working Example:
The requirement here is to load the field emp_name in the data field into two columns
emp_name and description of the table EMP. Here is the Working Example:
Say you have a table named EMP which has the below structure:
Column

Data Type

emp_num

Number

emp_name Varchar2(25)
description Varchar2(25)
department_num

Number

department_name Varchar2(25)
You are trying to load the below comma delimited data file named eg.dat which has 4 fields
that need to be loaded into 5 columns of the table EMP.
eg.dat:
7369,SMITH,7902,Accounting
7499,ALLEN,7698,Sales
7521,WARD,7698,Accounting
7566,JONES,7839,Sales
7654,MARTIN,7698,Accounting
Control File:
LOAD DATA
INFILE eg.dat
APPEND
INTO TABLE emp
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ,

(emp_num,
emp_name,
desc_skip FILLER POSITION(1),
description,
department_num,
department_name)
Explanation on how SQL LOADER processes the above CTL file:

record it is at from the

beginning because of the clause POSITION(1) . SQL LOADER again reads the first delimited
field and skips it as directed by FILLER keyword.
table EMP.
department_num of table EMP

4) Usage of BOUNDFILLER
BOUNDFILLER is available with Oracle 9i and above and can be used if the skipped columns
value will be required later again.
Here is an example:
The requirement is to load first two fields concatenated with the third field as emp_num
into table emp and Fourth field as Emp_name
Data File:
1,15,7369,SMITH
1,15,7499,ALLEN
1,15,7521,WARD
1,18,7566,JONES
1,20,7654,MARTIN
The requirement can be achieved using the below Control File:

LOAD DATA
INFILE C:\eg.dat
APPEND
INTO TABLE EMP
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ,
(
Rec_skip BOUNDFILLER,
tmp_skip BOUNDFILLER,
Emp_num (:Rec_skip||:tmp_skip||:emp_num),
Emp_name
)
5) Load the same record twice into a single table:
SQL Loader lets you load record twice using POSITION clause but you have to take into
account whether the constraints defined on the table allow you to insert duplicate rows.
Below is the Control file:
LOAD DATA
INFILE eg.dat
APPEND
INTO TABLE emp
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ,
( emp_num, emp_name, department_num, department_name )
INTO TABLE emp
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ,
(emp_num POSITION(1),emp_name,department_num,department_name)
SQL LOADER processes the above control file this way:
First INTO TABLE clause loads the 4 fields specified in the first line of the data file into the
respective columns (emp_num, emp_name, department_num, department_name)
Field scanning does not start over from the beginning of the record when SQL LOADER
encounters the second INTO TABLE clause in the CTL file. Instead, scanning continues where

it left off. Statement emp_num POSITION(1) in the CTL file forces the SQL LOADER to read
the same record from the beginning and loads the first field in the data file into emp_num
column again. The remaining fields in the first record of the data file are again loaded into
respective columns emp_name, department_num, department_name. Thus the same
record can be loaded multiple times into the same table using INTO TABLE clause.
6) Using WHEN to selectively load the records into the table
WHEN clause can be used to direct SQL LOADER to load the record only when the condition
specified in the WHEN clause is TRUE. WHEN statement can have any number of
comparisons preceded by AND. SQL*Loader does not allow the use of OR in the WHEN
clause.
Here is a working example which illustrates how to load the records into 2 tables EMP and
DEPT based on the record type specified in the data file.
The below is delimited data file eg.dat which has the first field as the record type. The
requirement here is to load all the records with record type = 1 into table EMP and all the
records with record type = 2 into table DEPT and record with record type =3 which happens
to be the trailer record should not be loaded.
1,7369,SMITH
2,7902,Accounting
1,7499,ALLEN
2,7698,Sales
1,7521,WARD
2,7698,Accounting
1,7566,JONES
2,7839,Sales
1,7654,MARTIN
2,7698,Accounting
3,10
Control File:
LOAD DATA
INFILE eg.dat
APPEND

INTO TABLE emp

WHEN (01) = 1
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ,
( rec_skip filler POSITION(1),emp_num , emp_name )
INTO TABLE dept
WHEN (01) = 2
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ,
(rec_skip filler POSITION(1),department_num,
department_name )
Lets now see how SQL LOADER processes the CTL file:
which happens to be the record type is 1 as directed by command
INTO TABLE emp
WHEN (01) = 1
the beginning of the record as directed by command POSITION(1) and skips the first field
which is the record type.
field into emp_num and third field into emp_name column in the
table EMP.
which happens to be the record type is 2 as directed by the commands INTO TABLE dept
WHEN (01) = 2
the beginning of the record as directed by command POSITION(1) and skips the first field
which is the record type.
then loads the second field into department_num and third field into department_name
columns in the table DEPT.

Thus you can selectively loads the necessary records into various tables using WHEN clause.

7) Run SQLLDR from SQL PLUS

SQL LOADER can be invoked from SQL PLUS using host command as shown below:
host sqlldr userid= username/password@host control = C:\eg.ctl log = eg.log
8) Default path for Discard, bad and log files
If bad and discard file paths are not specified in the CTL file and if this SQL Loader is
registered as a concurrent program, then they will be created in the directory where the
regular Concurrent programs output files reside. You can also find the paths where the
discard and bad files have been created in the log file of the SQL LOADER concurrent
request.