Data Pump Export (hereinafter referred to as Export for ease of reading) is a utility for unloading data and metadata into a set of operating system files called a dump file set. The dump file set can be imported only by the Data Pump Import utility. The dump file set can be imported on the same system or it can be moved to another system and loaded there.
The dump file set is made up of one or more disk files that contain table data, database object metadata, and control information. The files are written in a proprietary, binary format. During an import operation, the Data Pump Import utility uses these files to locate each database object in the dump file set.
Because the dump files are written by the server, rather than by the client, the database administrator (DBA) must create directory objects that define the server locations to which files are written. See "Default Locations for Dump_ Log_ and SQL Files" for more information about directory objects.
Data Pump Export enables you to specify that a job should move a subset of the data and metadata, as determined by the export mode. This is done using data filters and metadata filters, which are specified through Export parameters. See "Filtering During Export Operations".
To see some examples of the various ways in which you can use Data Pump Export, refer to "Examples of Using Data Pump Export".