Sql*Plus User’s Guide and Reference

5-9
2.
Do not put comments after statement terminators (period, semicolon or slash). For 
example, if you enter:
SELECT 'Y' FROM DUAL; -- TESTING
You get the following error:
SQL*Plus expects no text after a statement terminator and is unable to process the 
command. 
3.
Do not put statement termination characters at the end of a comment line or after 
comments in a SQL statement or a PL/SQL block. For example, if you enter: 
SELECT *
-- COMMENT;
You get the following error:
The semicolon is interpreted as a statement terminator and SQL*Plus submits the 
partially formed SQL command to the server for processing, resulting in an error.
4.
Do not use ampersand characters '&' in comments in a SQL statement or PL/SQL 
block. For example, if you enter a script such as: 
SELECT REGION_NAME, CITY
/* THIS & THAT */
FROM EMP_DETAILS_VIEW
WHERE SALARY>12000;
SQL*Plus interprets text after the ampersand character "&" as a substitution 
variable and prompts for the value of the variable, &that:
You can SET DEFINE OFF to prevent scanning for the substitution character. 
SELECT 'Y' FROM DUAL; -- TESTING
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00911: invalid character
-- COMMENT
*
ERROR at line 2:
ORA-00923: FROM keyword not found where expected
Enter value for that: 
old 2: /* THIS & THAT */
new 2: /* THIS */
REGION_NAME CITY
------------------------- ------------------------------
Americas Seattle
Americas Seattle
Americas Seattle
Europe Oxford
Europe Oxford
Americas Toronto
6 rows selected.

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Running Scripts
5-10
SQL*Plus User's Guide and Reference
For more information on substitution and termination characters, see DEFINE, 
SQLTERMINATOR and SQLBLANKLINES in the 
SET
 command on page 12-88.
Running Scripts
The START command retrieves a script and runs the commands it contains. Use 
START to run a script containing SQL commands, PL/SQL blocks, and SQL*Plus 
commands. You can have many commands in the file. Follow the START command 
with the name of the file:
START 
file_name
SQL*Plus assumes the file has a .SQL extension by default.