Specifies how object creation errors should be handled. If you accept the default, IGNORE=n
, then Import logs or displays object creation errors before continuing.
If you specify IGNORE=y
, then Import overlooks object creation errors when it attempts to create database objects, and continues without reporting the errors.
Note that only object creation errors are ignored; other errors, such as operating system, database, and SQL errors, are not ignored and may cause processing to stop.
In situations where multiple refreshes from a single export file are done with IGNORE=y
, certain objects can be created multiple times (although they will have unique system-defined names). You can prevent this for certain objects (for example, constraints) by doing an import with CONSTRAINTS=n
. If you do a full import with CONSTRAINTS=n
, then no constraints for any tables are imported.
If a table already exists and IGNORE=y
, then rows are imported into existing tables without any errors or messages being given. You might want to import data into tables that already exist in order to use new storage parameters or because you have already created the table in a cluster.
If a table already exists and IGNORE=n,
then errors are reported and the table is skipped with no rows inserted. Also, objects dependent on tables, such as indexes, grants, and constraints, will not be created.