insert a multiline string in Oracle with sqlplus

sql oracle newline sqlplus
Louis Rhys picture Louis Rhys · Feb 1, 2012 · Viewed 51.1k times · Source

I have a SQL script that will insert a long string into a table. The string contains a new line (and this new line is absolutely necessary), so when it is written in a text file, the query is split to multiple lines. Something like:

insert into table(id, string) values (1, 'Line1goesHere 

Line2GoesHere 
blablablabla
');

This runs ok in Toad, but when I save this as a .sql file and run it using sqlplus, it considers each line a separate query, meaning that each line will fail (beacuse insert into table(id, string) values (1, 'Line1goesHere, Line2GoesHere aren't well-formated scripts.

SP2-0734: unknown command beginning "Line2GoesHere" - rest of line ignored.

Is there a way to fix this?

Answer

jim mcnamara picture jim mcnamara · Feb 1, 2012

Enable SQLBLANKLINES to allow blank lines in SQL statements. For example:

SET SQLBLANKLINES ON
insert into table(id, string) values (1, 'Line1goesHere 
Line2GoesHere 

blablablabla
');

The premise of this question is slightly wrong. SQL*Plus does allow multi-line strings by default. It is only blank lines that cause problems.

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