DATA

Default: The same name as the table name, but with an extension of .dat.

Purpose

The DATA parameter specifies the name(s) of the data file(s) containing the data to be loaded.

Syntax and Description

DATA=data-file-name

If you do not specify a file extension, then the default is .dat.

The file specification can contain wildcards (only in the file name and file extension, not in a device or directory name). An asterisk (*) represents multiple characters and a question mark (?) represents a single character. For example:

DATA='emp*.dat'

DATA='m?emp.dat'

To list multiple data file specifications (each of which can contain wild cards), the file names must be separated by commas.

If the file name contains any special characters (for example, spaces, *, ?, ), then the entire name must be enclosed within single quotation marks.

The following are three examples of possible valid uses of the DATA parameter (the single quotation marks would only be necessary if the file name contained special characters):

DATA='file1','file2','file3','file4','file5','file6'

DATA='file1','file2'
DATA='file3,'file4','file5'
DATA='file6'

DATA='file1'
DATA='file2'
DATA='file3'
DATA='file4'
DATA='file5'
DATA='file6'

Restrictions

Caution:

If multiple data files are being loaded and you are also specifying the BAD parameter, it is recommended that you specify only a directory for the bad file, not a file name. If you specify a file name, and a file with that name already exists, then it is either overwritten or a new version is created, depending on your operating system.

Example

Assume that the current directory contains data files with the namesemp1.dat, emp2.dat, m1emp.dat, and m2emp.dat and you issue the following command:

> sqlldr hr TABLE=employees DATA='emp*','m1emp'

The command loads the emp1.dat, emp2.dat, and m1emp.dat files. The m2emp.dat file is not loaded because it did not match any of the wildcard criteria.