VERSION

Default: COMPATIBLE

Purpose

Specifies the version of database objects to be exported. Only database objects and attributes that are compatible with the specified release will be exported. This can be used to create a dump file set that is compatible with a previous release of Oracle Database. Note that this does not mean that Data Pump Export can be used with releases of Oracle Database prior to Oracle Database 10g release 1 (10.1). Data Pump Export only works with Oracle Database 10g release 1 (10.1) or later. The VERSION parameter simply allows you to identify the version of objects being exported.

On Oracle Database 11g release 2 (11.2.0.3) or later, the VERSION parameter can be specified as VERSION=12 in conjunction with FULL=Y to generate a full export dump file that is ready for import into Oracle Database 12c. The export will include information from registered database options and components. (This dump file set can only be imported into Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1.0.1) and later.) If VERSION=12 is used in conjunction with FULL=Y and also with TRANSPORTABLE=ALWAYS, then a full transportable export dump file is generated that is ready for import into Oracle Database 12c. (See "Using the Transportable Option During Full Mode Exports".)

Syntax and Description

VERSION=[COMPATIBLE | LATEST | version_string]

The legal values for the VERSION parameter are as follows:

  • COMPATIBLE - This is the default value. The version of the metadata corresponds to the database compatibility level as specified on the COMPATIBLE initialization parameter. Database compatibility must be set to 9.2 or later.

  • LATEST - The version of the metadata and resulting SQL DDL corresponds to the database release regardless of its compatibility level.

  • version_string - A specific database release (for example, 11.2.0). In Oracle Database 11g, this value cannot be lower than 9.2.

Database objects or attributes that are incompatible with the release specified for VERSION will not be exported. For example, tables containing new data types that are not supported in the specified release will not be exported.

Restrictions

  • Exporting a table with archived LOBs to a database release earlier than 11.2 is not allowed.

  • If the Data Pump Export VERSION parameter is specified along with the TRANSPORT_TABLESPACES parameter, then the value must be equal to or greater than the Oracle Database COMPATIBLE initialization parameter.

  • If the Data Pump VERSION parameter is specified as any value earlier than 12.1, then the Data Pump dump file excludes any tables that contain VARCHAR2 or NVARCHAR2 columns longer than 4000 bytes and any RAW columns longer than 2000 bytes.

  • Dump files created on Oracle Database 11g releases with the Data Pump parameter VERSION=12 can only be imported on Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) and later.

Example

The following example shows an export for which the version of the metadata will correspond to the database release:

> expdp hr TABLES=hr.employees VERSION=LATEST DIRECTORY=dpump_dir1
DUMPFILE=emp.dmp NOLOGFILE=YES

See Also:

"Exporting and Importing Between Different Database Releases"