Oracle Interview Questions and Answers : SQL 1. To see current user name Sql> show user; 2.

Change SQL prompt name SQL> set sqlprompt Manimara > Manimara > Manimara > 3. Switch to DOS prompt SQL> host 4. How do I eliminate the duplicate rows ? SQL> delete from table_name where rowid not in (select max(rowid) from table group by duplicate_values_field_name); or SQL> delete duplicate_values_field_name dv from table_name ta where rowid <(select min(rowid) from table_name tb where ta.dv=tb.dv); Example. Table Emp Empno Ename 101 Scott 102 Jiyo 103 Millor 104 Jiyo 105 Smith delete ename from emp a where rowid < ( select min(rowid) from emp b where a.ename = b.ename); The output like, Empno Ename 101 Scott 102 Millor 103 Jiyo 104 Smith 5. How do I display row number with records? To achive this use rownum pseudocolumn with query, like SQL> SQL> select rownum, ename from emp; Output: 1 Scott 2 Millor 3 Jiyo 4 Smith 6. Display the records between two range select rownum, empno, ename from emp where rowid in (select rowid from emp where rownum <=&upto minus

select rowid from emp where rownum<&Start); Enter value for upto: 10 Enter value for Start: 7 ROWNUM EMPNO ENAME --------- --------- ---------1 7782 CLARK 2 7788 SCOTT 3 7839 KING 4 7844 TURNER 7. I know the nvl function only allows the same data type(ie. number or char or date Nvl(comm, 0)), if commission is null then the text Not Applicable want to display, instead of blank space. How do I write the query? SQL> select nvl(to_char(comm.),'NA') from emp; Output : NVL(TO_CHAR(COMM),'NA') ----------------------NA 300 500 NA 1400 NA NA 8. Oracle cursor : Implicit & Explicit cursors Oracle uses work areas called private SQL areas to create SQL statements. PL/SQL construct to identify each and every work are used, is called as Cursor. For SQL queries returning a single row, PL/SQL declares all implicit cursors. For queries that returning more than one row, the cursor needs to be explicitly declared. 9. Explicit Cursor attributes There are four cursor attributes used in Oracle cursor_name%Found, cursor_name%NOTFOUND, cursor_name%ROWCOUNT, cursor_name%ISOPEN 10. Implicit Cursor attributes Same as explicit cursor but prefixed by the word SQL SQL%Found, SQL%NOTFOUND, SQL%ROWCOUNT, SQL%ISOPEN Tips : 1. Here SQL%ISOPEN is false, because oracle automatically closed the implicit cursor after executing SQL statements. : 2. All are Boolean attributes. 11. Find out nth highest salary from emp table SELECT DISTINCT (a.sal) FROM EMP A WHERE &N = (SELECT COUNT (DISTINCT (b.sal)) FROM EMP B WHERE a.sal<=b.sal); Enter value for n: 2 SAL

--------3700 12. To view installed Oracle version information SQL> select banner from v$version; 13. Display the number value in Words SQL> select sal, (to_char(to_date(sal,'j'), 'jsp')) from emp; the output like, SAL (TO_CHAR(TO_DATE(SAL,'J'),'JSP')) --------- ----------------------------------------------------800 eight hundred 1600 one thousand six hundred 1250 one thousand two hundred fifty If you want to add some text like, Rs. Three Thousand only. SQL> select sal "Salary ", (' Rs. '|| (to_char(to_date(sal,'j'), 'Jsp'))|| ' only.')) "Sal in Words" from emp / Salary Sal in Words ------- -----------------------------------------------------800 Rs. Eight Hundred only. 1600 Rs. One Thousand Six Hundred only. 1250 Rs. One Thousand Two Hundred Fifty only. 14. Display Odd/ Even number of records Odd number of records: select * from emp where (rowid,1) in (select rowid, mod(rownum,2) from emp); 1 3 5 Even number of records: select * from emp where (rowid,0) in (select rowid, mod(rownum,2) from emp) 2 4 6 15. Which date function returns number value? months_between 16. Any three PL/SQL Exceptions? Too_many_rows, No_Data_Found, Value_Error, Zero_Error, Others 17. What are PL/SQL Cursor Exceptions? Cursor_Already_Open, Invalid_Cursor 18. Other way to replace query result null value with a text SQL> Set NULL N/A to reset SQL> Set NULL 19. What are the more common pseudo-columns? SYSDATE, USER , UID, CURVAL, NEXTVAL, ROWID, ROWNUM

20. What is the output of SIGN function? 1 for positive value, 0 for Zero, -1 for Negative value. 21. What is the maximum number of triggers, can apply to a single table? 12 triggers. 1) what are the different objects in database table, index, sequence, materialized view (snapshot) triggers, packages, procedures, functions, views, jobs, database link 2) What are the different joins available in plsql coding inner join outer join (left,right) self join

3) How do you increase the performance of table which is having more than a crore records? Partitioning, Index creation, Optimizer hints to be added in queries 4) How to do you load data from flat file to database and vice-versa? sql loader is a tool can be used to load data between flat file and database. 5) What is an autonomous transaction?

Autonomous transactions are independent of other routines, thier rollback or commit statements are independent with other transactions. For example we can use this method to log the errors into a database table. 6) What is the use of snapshot? Snapshot or Materialized view is used to refresh a local copy of remote database. 7) What is a distributed transaction? An update or insert or select statement is using multiple databases, then it is a distributed transaction. 8) What are different database triggers availabel? After Insert/update/delete on table for each row (row level) after Insert/update/delete on table for each statement (statement level) In addition to this, There are some system level triggers availabel like after login, after logout, after database open, before shutdown etc. 9) What is a database link? A database link is used to create connection to remote database. 10) How do you debug the plsql code to identify the errors in the code? The oldest and simplest method i always prefer is log tables or messages. 11)What are the differnt methods can be used to exprot or import? DBpump can be used to export or import user level or database level structure or data. (In previous versions, we used exp command and imp command for this activity) 12)What is use of a sequence in the database? It generates automatic sequence number while creating the transactions or during the batch jobs. 13)What are the different Indexes availabe? b-tree indexes, bitmap indexes. b-tree indexes useful in online transaction processing like regular applications.

bitmap indexes useful in DSS (decision support systems) i.e. warehouse applications where huge data to be managed. partition indexes also availabe for partion tables. 14)What are partitions? Partitions increases the performance of DML(select,update,delete) due to the table content sits in different locations i.e. in diffent data files. 15)What are RACs? When we are using multiple instances of a database, then it is called as RACs(Real Application Clusters) Each RAC is nothing but an instance. 16)What is an instance? An instance is nothing but SGA(system global area) and its background processes. (dbwriter, log writer etc.) 17) diff. betwn. Decode and case?

DECODE can be used Only inside SQL statement But CASE can be used any where even as a parameter of a function/procedure DECODE can only compare discrete values (not ranges) continuous data had to be contorted into discreet values using functions like FLOOR and SIGN. In version 8.1 Oracle introduced the searched CASE statement which allowed the use of operators like > and BETWEEN (eliminating most of the contortions) and allowing different values to be compared in different branches of the statement (eliminating most nesting). CASE is almost always easier to read and understand and therefore it's easier to debug and maintain. Another difference is CASE is an ANSI standard where as Decode is proprietary for Oracle. Performance wise there is not much differences. But Case is more powerful than Decode. Decode cannot be used in Where clause but Case can. Decode does not evaluate inequality operator Where as case can do.

SELECT DECODE(DEPTNO 10 'TEN' 20 'TWANTY' 30 'THIRTY' 40 'FORTY' 'OTHER') FROM DEPT

SELECT CASE DEPTNO when 10 then 'TEN' when 20 then 'TWANTY' when 30 then 'THIRTY' when 40 then 'FORTY' ELSE 'OTHER' END FROM DEPT 1) Decode is a function while Case statement. 2) Case cannot process null while decode can.

GENERAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS what is the difference between delete,drop and tru... The DELETE command is used to remove rows from a table. A WHERE clause can be used to only remove some rows. If no WHERE condition is specified all rows will be removed. After performing a DELETE operation you need to COMMIT or ROLLBACK the transaction to make the change permanent or to undo it. TRUNCATE removes all rows from a table. The operation cannot be rolled back. As such TRUCATE is faster and doesn't use as much undo space as a DELETE. The DROP command removes a table from the database. All the tables' rows indexes and privileges will also be removed. The operation cannot be rolled back. DROP and TRUNCATE are DDL commands whereas DELETE is a DML command. Therefore DELETE operations can be rolled back (undone) while DROP and TRUNCATE operations cannot be rolled back. 1.What are the various types of Exceptions ? User defined and Predefined Exceptions. 2.Can we define exceptions twice in same block ? No. 3.What is the difference between a procedure and a function ? Functions return a single variable by value whereas procedures do not return any variable by value. Rather they return multiple variables by passing variables by reference through their OUT parameter. 4.Can you have two functions with the same name in a PL/SQL block ?

Yes. 5.Can you have two stored functions with the same name ? Yes. 6.Can you call a stored function in the constraint of a table ? No. 7.What are the various types of parameter modes in a procedure ? IN, OUT AND INOUT. 8.What is Over Loading and what are its restrictions ? OverLoading means an object performing different functions depending upon the no. of parameters or the data type of the parameters passed to it. 9.Can functions be overloaded ? Yes. 10.Can 2 functions have same name & input parameters but differ only by return datatype No. 11.What are the constructs of a procedure, function or a package ? The constructs of a procedure, function or a package are : variables and constants cursors exceptions 12.Why Create or Replace and not Drop and recreate procedures ? So that Grants are not dropped. 13.Can you pass parameters in packages ? How ? Yes. You can pass parameters to procedures or functions in a package. 14.What are the parts of a database trigger ? The parts of a trigger are: A triggering event or statement A trigger restriction A trigger action 15.What are the various types of database triggers ? There are 12 types of triggers, they are combination of : Insert, Delete and Update Triggers. Before and After Triggers. Row and Statement Triggers. (3*2*2=12) 16.What is the advantage of a stored procedure over a database trigger ? We have control over the firing of a stored procedure but we have no control over the firing of a trigger. 17.What is the maximum no. of statements that can be specified in a trigger statement ? One. 18.Can views be specified in a trigger statement ? No 19.What are the values of :new and :old in Insert/Delete/Update Triggers ? INSERT : new = new value, old = NULL DELETE : new = NULL, old = old value UPDATE : new = new value, old = old value

20.What are cascading triggers? What is the maximum no of cascading triggers at a time? When a statement in a trigger body causes another trigger to be fired, the triggers are said to be cascading. Max = 32. 21.What are mutating triggers ? A trigger giving a SELECT on the table on which the trigger is written. 22.What are constraining triggers ? A trigger giving an Insert/Updat e on a table having referential integrity constraint on the triggering table. 23.Describe Oracle database's physical and logical structure ? Physical : Data files, Redo Log files, Control file. Logical : Tables, Views, Tablespaces, etc. 24.Can you increase the size of a tablespace ? How ? Yes, by adding datafiles to it. 25.Can you increase the size of datafiles ? How ? No (for Oracle 7.0) Yes (for Oracle 7.3 by using the Resize clause ----- Confirm !!). 26.What is the use of Control files ? Contains pointers to locations of various data files, redo log files, etc. 27.What is the use of Data Dictionary ? Used by Oracle to store information about various physical and logical Oracle structures e.g. Tables, Tablespaces, datafiles, etc 28.What are the advantages of clusters ? Access time reduced for joins. 29.What are the disadvantages of clusters ? The time for Insert increases. 30.Can Long/Long RAW be clustered ? No. 31.Can null keys be entered in cluster index, normal index ? Yes. 32.Can Check constraint be used for self referential integrity ? How ? Yes. In the CHECK condition for a column of a table, we can reference some other column of the same table and thus enforce self referential integrity. 33.What are the min. extents allocated to a rollback extent ? Two 34.What are the states of a rollback segment ? What is the difference between partly available and needs recovery ? The various states of a rollback segment are : ONLINE, OFFLINE, PARTLY AVAILABLE, NEEDS RECOVERY and INVALID. 35.What is the difference between unique key and primary key ? Unique key can be null; Primary key cannot be null. 36.An insert statement followed by a create table statement followed by rollback ? Will the rows be inserted ? No. 37.Can you define multiple savepoints ? Yes.

38.Can you Rollback to any savepoint ? Yes. 40.What is the maximum no. of columns a table can have ? 254. 41.What is the significance of the & and && operators in PL SQL ? The & operator means that the PL SQL block requires user input for a variable. The && operator means that the value of this variable should be the same as inputted by the user previously for this same variable. If a transaction is very large, and the rollback segment is not able to hold the rollback information, then will the transaction span across different rollback segments or will it terminate ? It will terminate (Please check ). 42.Can you pass a parameter to a cursor ? Explicit cursors can take parameters, as the example below shows. A cursor parameter can appear in a query wherever a constant can appear. CURSOR c1 (median IN NUMBER) IS SELECT job, ename FROM emp WHERE sal > median; 43.What are the various types of RollBack Segments ? Public Available to all instances Private Available to specific instance 44.Can you use %RowCount as a parameter to a cursor ? Yes 45.Is the query below allowed : Select sal, ename Into x From emp Where ename = 'KING' (Where x is a record of Number(4) and Char(15)) Yes 46.Is the assignment given below allowed : ABC = PQR (Where ABC and PQR are records) Yes 47.Is this for loop allowed : For x in &Start..&End Loop Yes 48.How many rows will the following SQL return : Select * from emp Where rownum < 10; 9 rows 49.How many rows will the following SQL return : Select * from emp Where rownum = 10; No rows 50.Which symbol preceeds the path to the table in the remote database ? @ 51.Are views automatically updated when base tables are updated ? Yes 52.Can a trigger written for a view ? No 53.If all the values from a cursor have been fetched and another fetch is issued, the output will be : error, last record or first record ?

Last Record 54.A table has the following data : [[5, Null, 10]]. What will the average function return ? 7.5 55.Is Sysdate a system variable or a system function? System Function 56.Consider a sequence whose currval is 1 and gets incremented by 1 by using the nextval reference we get the next number 2. Suppose at this point we issue an rollback and again issue a nextval. What will the output be ? 3 56.Definition of relational DataBase by Dr. Codd (IBM)? A Relational Database is a database where all data visible to the user is organized strictly as tables of data values and where all database operations work on these tables. 57.What is Multi Threaded Server (MTA) ? In a Single Threaded Architecture (or a dedicated server configuration) the database manager creates a separate process for each database user. But in MTA the database manager can assign multiple users (multiple user processes) to a single dispatcher (server process), a controlling process that queues request for work thus reducing the databases memory requirement and resources. 58.Which are initial RDBMS, Hierarchical & N/w database ? RDBMS - R system Hierarchical - IMS N/W - DBTG 59.Difference between Oracle 6 and Oracle 7 ORACLE 7 ORACLE 6 Cost based optimizer Rule based optimizer Shared SQL Area SQL area allocated for each user Multi Threaded Server Single Threaded Server Hash Clusters Only B-Tree indexing Roll back Size Adjustment No provision Truncate command No provision Database Integrity Constraints Provision at Application Level Stored procedures, functions packages & triggers No provision Resource profile limit. It prevents user from running away with system resources No provision Distributed Database Distributed Query Table replication & snapshots No provision Client/Server Tech. No provision 60.What is Functional Dependency Given a relation R, attribute Y of R is functionally dependent on attribute X of R if and only if each X-value has associated with it precisely one -Y value in R

61.What is Auditing ? The database has the ability to audit all actions that take place within it. a) Login attempts, b) Object Accesss, c) Database Action Result of Greatest(1,NULL) or Least(1,NULL) NULL 62.While designing in client/server what are the 2 imp. things to be considered ? Network Overhead (traffic), Speed and Load of client server 63.What are the disadvantages of SQL ? Disadvantages of SQL are : Cannot drop a field Cannot rename a field Cannot manage memory Procedural Language option not provided Index on view or index on index not provided View updation problem 64.When to create indexes ? To be created when table is queried for less than 2% or 4% to 25% of the table rows. 65.How can you avoid indexes ? TO make index access path unavailable Use FULL hint to optimizer for full table scan Use INDEX or AND-EQUAL hint to optimizer to use one index or set to indexes instead of another. Use an expression in the Where Clause of the SQL. 66.What is the result of the following SQL : Select 1 from dual UNION Select 'A' from dual; Error 67.Can database trigger written on synonym of a table and if it can be then what would be the effect if original table is accessed. Yes, database trigger would fire. 68.Can you alter synonym of view or view ? No 69.Can you create index on view No. 70.What is the difference between a view and a synonym ? Synonym is just a second name of table used for multiple link of database. View can be

created with many tables, and with virtual columns and with conditions. But synonym can be on view. 71.What is the difference between alias and synonym ? Alias is temporary and used with one query. Synonym is permanent and not used as alias. 72.What is the effect of synonym and table name used in same Select statement ? Valid 73.What's the length of SQL integer ? 32 bit length 74.What is the difference between foreign key and reference key ? Foreign key is the key i.e. attribute which refers to another table primary key. Reference key is the primary key of table referred by another table. 75.Can dual table be deleted, dropped or altered or updated or inserted ? Yes 76.If content of dual is updated to some value computation takes place or not ? Yes 77.If any other table same as dual is created would it act similar to dual? Yes 78.For which relational operators in where clause, index is not used ? <> , like '% ...' is NOT functions, field +constant, field || '' 79.Assume that there are multiple databases running on one machine. How can you switch from one to another ? Changing the ORACLE_SID 80.What are the advantages of Oracle ? Portability : Oracle is ported to more platforms than any of its competitors, running on more than 100 hardware platforms and 20 networking protocols. Market Presence : Oracle is by far the largest RDBMS vendor and spends more on R & D than most of its competitors earn in total revenue. This market clout means that you are unlikely to be left in the lurch by Oracle and there are always lots of third party interfaces available. Backup and Recovery : Oracle provides industrial strength support for on-line backup and recovery and good software fault tolerence to disk failure. You can also do point-intime recovery. Performance : Speed of a 'tuned' Oracle Database and application is quite good, even with large databases. Oracle can manage > 100GB databases. Multiple database support : Oracle has a superior ability to manage multiple databases within the same transaction using a two-phase commit protocol. 81.What is a forward declaration ? What is its use ? PL/SQL requires that you declare an identifier before using it. Therefore, you must declare a subprogram before calling it. This declaration at the start of a subprogram is called forward declaration. A forward declaration consists of a subprogram specification terminated by a semicolon. 82.What are actual and formal parameters ? Actual Parameters : Subprograms pass information using parameters. The variables or expressions referenced in the parameter list of a subprogram call are actual parameters. For example, the following procedure call lists two actual parameters named emp_num and amount:

Eg. raise_salary(emp_num, amount); Formal Parameters : The variables declared in a subprogram specification and referenced in the subprogram body are formal parameters. For example, the following procedure declares two formal parameters named emp_id and increase: Eg. PROCEDURE raise_salary (emp_id INTEGER, increase REAL) IS current_salary REAL; 83.What are the types of Notation ? Position, Named, Mixed and Restrictions. 84.What all important parameters of the init.ora are supposed to be increased if you want to increase the SGA size ? In our case, db_block_buffers was changed from 60 to 1000 (std values are 60, 550 & 3500) shared_pool_size was changed from 3.5MB to 9MB (std values are 3.5, 5 & 9MB) open_cursors was changed from 200 to 300 (std values are 200 & 300) db_block_size was changed from 2048 (2K) to 4096 (4K) {at the time of database creation}. The initial SGA was around 4MB when the server RAM was 32MB and The new SGA was around 13MB when the server RAM was increased to 128MB. 85.If I have an execute privilege on a procedure in another users schema, can I execute his procedure even though I do not have privileges on the tables within the procedure ? Yes 86.What are various types of joins ? Equijoins, Non-equijoins, self join, outer join 87.What is a package cursor ? A package cursor is a cursor which you declare in the package specification without an SQL statement. The SQL statement for the cursor is attached dynamically at runtime from calling procedures. 88.If you insert a row in a table, then create another table and then say Rollback. In this case will the row be inserted ? Yes. Because Create table is a DDL which commits automatically as soon as it is executed. The DDL commits the transaction even if the create statement fails internally (eg table already exists error) and not syntactically. 89.What are the various types of queries ? Normal Queries Sub Queries Co-related queries Nested queries Compound queries 90.What is a transaction ? A transaction is a set of SQL statements between any two COMMIT and ROLLBACK statements. 91.What is implicit cursor and how is it used by Oracle ? An implicit cursor is a cursor which is internally created by Oracle. It is created by Oracle for each individual SQL.

92.Which of the following is not a schema object : Indexes, tables, public synonyms, triggers and packages ? Public synonyms 93.What is the difference between a view and a snapshot ? 94.What is PL/SQL? PL/SQL is Oracle's Procedural Language extension to SQL. The language includes object oriented programming techniques such as encapsulation, function overloading, information hiding (all but inheritance), and so, brings state-of-the-art programming to the Oracle database server and a variety of Oracle tools. 95.Is there a PL/SQL Engine in SQL*Plus? No. Unlike Oracle Forms, SQL*Plus does not have a PL/SQL engine. Thus, all your PL/SQL are send directly to the database engine for execution. This makes it much more efficient as SQL statements are not stripped off and send to the database individually. 96.Is there a limit on the size of a PL/SQL block? Currently, the maximum parsed/compiled size of a PL/SQL block is 64K and the maximum code size is 100K. You can run the following select statement to query the size of an existing package or procedure. SQL> select * from dba_object_size where name = 'procedure_name' 97.Can one read/write files from PL/SQL? Included in Oracle 7.3 is a UTL_FILE package that can read and write files. The directory you intend writing to has to be in your INIT.ORA file (see UTL_FILE_DIR=... parameter). Before Oracle 7.3 the only means of writing a file was to use DBMS_OUTPUT with the SQL*Plus SPOOL command. DECLARE fileHandler UTL_FILE.FILE_TYPE; BEGIN fileHandler := UTL_FILE.FOPEN('/home/oracle/tmp', 'myoutput','W'); UTL_FILE.PUTF(fileHandler, 'Value of func1 is %sn', func1(1)); UTL_FILE.FCLOSE(fileHandler); END; 98.How can I protect my PL/SQL source code? PL/SQL V2.2, available with Oracle7.2, implements a binary wrapper for PL/SQL programs to protect the source code. This is done via a standalone utility that transforms the PL/SQL source code into portable binary object code (somewhat larger than the original). This way you can distribute software without having to worry about exposing your proprietary algorithms and methods. SQL*Plus and SQL*DBA will still understand and know how to execute such scripts. Just be careful, there is no "decode" command available. The syntax is: wrap iname=myscript.sql oname=xxxx.yyy 99.Can one use dynamic SQL within PL/SQL? OR Can you use a DDL in a procedure ? How ? From PL/SQL V2.1 one can use the DBMS_SQL package to execute dynamic SQL statements. Eg: CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE DYNSQL

AS cur integer; rc integer; BEGIN cur := DBMS_SQL.OPEN_CURSOR; DBMS_SQL.PARSE(cur,'CREATE TABLE X (Y DATE)', DBMS_SQL.NATIVE); rc := DBMS_SQL.EXECUTE(cur); DBMS_SQL.CLOSE_CURSOR(cur); END; 1. What is Referential Integrity rule? Differentiate between 2. Delete & Truncate command. 3. Implicit Cursor & Explicit Cursor. 4. Ref. key & Foreign key. 5. Where & Having Clause. 6. What are various kinds of Integrity Constraints in Oracle? 7. What are various kind of joins? 8. What is Raise_Application_Error? 9. What are various kinds of exceptions in Oracle? 10. Normal Forms Oracle Notes : Oracle 8i It is a DB of internet computing , It changes the of information managed and accessed to meet the demandof internet age. -- Significant new feature for OLTP(Online trans Processing) and data ware housing Appl. -- To mange all types of datain web site. -- iFS Internet file Syatem -- interMedia to manage and access multimedia data,audio,video -- Support to java(to install JVM on server) -- Security enhancement(authentication and authorization,centralizing user management) Oracle 8(ORDBMS) -Parrallel enhancement ,faster connection -Table partitioning , Connection inc to 30000 ,Table column upto 1000 -DB size inc from few tera byte to 10 tera. , Data file inc 65,533 -Support MTS,provides LOB Oracle Start 1. Oracle instance start -Allocates SGA and start BAckground processes. 2. Mount Oracle DB-Method of Associating DB with previous started instance 3.Opening DB-To make available. Normalization -

It's a technique thr. which we can design the DB. During normalization dependancies can be identified which can cause pbs during deletion & updation .It is used in simplifing the structure of table. 1NF-Unnormalised data transfer to normalised form. 2NF-Functional dependancies can be find out & decompose the table without loss of data. 3NF-Transist dependancies ,Every non key attrbute is functionally dependant on just PK. 4NF(BCNF)-The relation which has multiple candidate keys ,then we have to go for BCNF. DenormalizationAt the same time when information is required from more than one table at faster rate then it is wiser to add some sort of dependancies. Rooling Forward -To reapply to Data file to all changes that are recorded in Redo log file due to which datafile contains commited & uncommited dat. Forward Declaration-To declare variable and procedures before using it. 2- Tier Arch. Disadv-When Business Rule changes. PL/SQL Record-To represent more than one row at time. PL/SQL Table -To define single variable comprises several data element. To delete define one more empty table and assign it. Tablespace Profile-To control system resources ,memory ,diskspace and CPU time. We can find rows effected by %rowcount. Data Binding-Dividing the cursor in appl as per select stamt. Truncate -Faster than delete ,doesn't fire ny DB trigger ,Allocate space ,No roolback. Defered Integrity constraints-When we refere PK in the same table where we defined . Cascading triggerTemporary Table-Delete operation table. Log Table-to store information abt error. CoordinityErr Trap -To trap error use SQLERRM,SQLCODE Modularity-PL/SQL allows to create program module to improve software reliability and to hide complexity Positional and Named Notation The actual arguments are associaed with formal arguments by position k/s Positional Notation.It's commonly used. A Trigger doesn't accept argument & have same name as table or procedure as it exist in seperate namespace. How we ref FK in Sql -Join Condition. Security/LockShared/exclusive -When 2 transaction wants to read/write from db at the same time. Dead- 1trans updates emp and dep 2 trans update dep and emp. TO add a not null column to a table which has already some records Alter table a

Add(b number default 1 not null) Sequence- Start with,increment by,Cache/No cache,Order/No order,Max,Min ER Dia.- Entity Relation Dia. Set Transaction -To set a current transaction online offline Oracle errORA-06500 storage err ORA-00923 from keyword not found ORA-06501program err ORA-00904 Invalid Col ORA-00001Uk violated. Dynamic Sql -Which uses late binding File I/O-To read and write dat to and from text file thr. Oracle procedure. Joins-Equi,Non EQui,Self,inner joins,outer joins Index-16 col per table. Parsing-Syntax checking. Optimization-Use of index (HINT) Corelated Subquery -Which fires only once/ per row for entire stmt. Simple Query--Which fires everytime for entire stmt Packages- Encapsulation,Overloading,improve performance as I/O reduces. PL/SQL Signature Method- To determine when remote dependant object get invalid. Object Previledge - On a particular object- I/U/D/Exec System Previledge -Entire collection object -C/A/D SGA Comprises -Data Buffer, Redo Log Buffer,Shared pool Buffer. Shared Pool - Req to process unique SQL stmt submitted to DB. It contains information such as parse tree and execusion plan . PGA -A memry buffer that contains data and control information for a server process. Dedicated server - Handles request. for single user. Multithresd Server-Handles request. for multiple user. Background process -DBWR,LGWR,PMON,SMON,CKPT DBWR-Writes modified data blocks from DB buffer to data file. LGWRCKPT-Responsible to check DBWR and update control file to indicate most recent CKPT. SMON-Instance recovery at start up,Clean Temporary. Segment. PMON-Responsible for process recovery and user process fails,Cleaning up cache ,freeing resources which was using process. Segment-Data/Index/Rollback/Temp Data Dictionary -V$SESSION, information abt integrity constraints,space allocated for schema object. USER_TAB_COLUMNS gives you a list of tables as per Column. EOD ProcedureMutating/Constraining Err/Table Diff of where and group by Connect,Allocate.Analyse Command. Queries--

1. 3rd Max select distinct sal from emp a where 3=(select count(distinct sal) from emp b where a.sal=<b.sal) 2. Delete Duplicate rows Delete Emp where rowid not in(select max(rowid) from emp group by emp_no) 3. First 5 Max No select sal from (select abs(-sal) sal from emp group by -sal) where rownum<6 Views--No Aggr function,group by,having -U/D without PK but not Insert. -Join -No DML -No join-DML Index -are used for row selection in where and order by only if indexing on column DBA If to_date(sysdate,'DAY')='Tuesday' then .. Buffer Cache-To improve data block recently used by user in order to improve the performance. Ordinality-Emp, Expences-Emp may expense sheet and Expense sheet has only one Emp. This fact k/s Referred Ordinality. Three Steps in creating DB.--Creating physical location for data in tables and indexes to be stored in DB. -To create the file that still store log entries. -To create logical structure of data dictionary. This is accomplished by create DB 1. Back up existing DB. 2.Create or Edit the init.ora file 3.Varify the instance name 4. Start Application management DB tool. 5.start instance 6.Create and Backup the new DB. Control file -250K Oracle Administration Assistant for W-NT is a DB management tool that enables to create DB administartor, operator, Users and role. To manage Oracle DB services, DB start up, shut down, Edit registry parameter setting, views oracle process information. Database Configuration Assistant -To create DB

Oracle environmentOLTP-Many users can read and update, hight response time. DSS-Read only. Hybrid-both OLTP & DSS App. are running with this App. Init.ora-is a parameter file like DB_NAME, CONTROL_FILE, DB_BLOCK _SIZE RowID-BlockIDRowIdDatafileId Cluster Segment-To support use of cluster on the DB. Hash Cluster-By placing data in close proximity k/s Hashing. OptimizationDecides line of execution of query. First apply condition and then make Cartesian product. The cost can reduce by reducing no of rows. Oracle ways for optimization-Evaluation of expression and condition amt>500/100--amt>5 Like convert to equal IN - OR condition Any -OR Between/ALL -AND NOT-Avoid Transitivity-where a.id=b.id and a.id=1 use a.id=1 and b.id =1 Merging views Index column be in order by clause. Bitmap Index- If the column has very few distinct entries We have to specify in init.ora Rate, Cost Choose mode based Approach -Avoid full table scan. -Access by Rowid -No function on Index column as it prevents the optimization. -Avoid IN, NOT and LIKE operator. -Column in where clause should be indexed. DATABASEProfile -To control system resources like memory, diskspace, and CPU time. Role -Collection of privileges. Type of segment- Rollback, Temp, Data, Index Snapshot-It's a read only table, to improve efficiency of query, which referred remote db, therefore reduce remote traffic. DB trigger-is a PL/SQL block that are associated with given table. Diff bet Trigger and Procedure-Trigger need not required to be call (Implicitly fire on event) -No TCL used -Proc/fun can be used in trigger -No use of Long raw,LOB,LONG -Procedure is prefered over trigger as proc stored in compile form as trigg p_code stores. TO check time nbetwen 8 am and 6 pm. Create or replace trigger ptpt before insert on batch

for each row declare A varchar2 (20); begin Select substr (to_char (sysdate,'HH: MI: SSSS) 1,2) into a from dual; If (a between '08' and 18) then Raise_application_error (-20001,'Invalid Time'); End if; End; Snapshot too old-We have to refresh the snapshot Alter snapshot as Select * from [email protected] Refresh after seven days. We can reduce network traffic-By using snapshot -By storing related table in same tablespace -By avoiding Row chain. Oracle DB uses three types of file structure. Data files-store actual data for tablespace, which is a logical unit of storage. Every tablespace has one or more data file to store actual data for tables, indexes, and clusters. Data is read and write to data file as needed. Redo log file-Two or more redo log file make up a logical redo log, which is used to recover modifications that have not been written to data files in event of power outage. Control file-Used at start up to identify the DB and determine which redo log file and data file are created. 1 data file, 1 control file, 2 redo log file. SET TRANSACTION-We use set transaction statement to login a read only or read-write or to assign the current transaction to specified rollback segment. Where date=sysdate-daily sale >sysdate-7 weekly sale >sysdate-30 monthly sale. A function must contain atleast one return value else PL/SQL raises predefined exception program_error. Actual parameter- when call Formal parameter Parametric Cursor - The cursor in which we can pass value when it is being opened Sql Stmt Execu-Reserves an area in memory called Private Sql Area. -Populate this area with app. data. -Process data in memory area. -Free the, memory area when exec is complete. Active set- A set of rows return by a mult-row query. Export-Putting data of tables in file, which can be, handles by OS. Auditingis used for noting down user's activity and statistics abt the operations in data objects.

The auditing are 1-Stmt 2-Preveledge 3-Object 1-It is done to audit stmt activity .The auditing information abt. date & time of information, nature of operation is stored in table AUD$ which is used by user sys. Audit select on itemmaster; Then app. auditing is done and stored in table . -To record the usage of privilege -To record the activity on object. Nature of AuditingAuditing is done on -Per session basis-one record is generated. Per statement basis per session/stmt Audit any allows user to audit any schema object in the DB. Table partitioningTable partitioning divides table data between two or more tablespaces and physical data file on separate disk. We can use it to improve transaction throughout and certain type of queries for large tables. Restriction-A table that is a part of cluster can't be partioned. -A table can be partitioned based on ranges column values only. -Attribute of partitioned table can't include long, long raw or any lob data type. -Bitmap indexes can't be defined on partioned tables. We add partition using ALTER TABLE OR Create table aa ( a date, B number C varchar2 (10)) partion by range(a,b) (partition pa1 values less than ('01-jan-99', 2) tablespace tsp1, -----------------------------------); Accessing partition tableSelect * from aa partion(pa1); Drop partion -Alter table AA drop partion pa1; SQL Language ExtensionOracle * provide new built-in datatype, object datatypes, nested tables, and a no of other features that require new DDL extension. VARRAY REF LOBS Create table AA(a N (10)

B date, C varchar2 (10)); Create type aa1 as varray (5) of number (5); The UTLBSTAT and UTLESTAT script to get general overview of database 's performance over a certain period of time. UTLBSTAT creates table and views containing cumulative database performance summary information at the time when the script runs .All the objects create by UTLBSTAT contain word login. Utlbstat.sql UTLESTAT creates table and views containing cumulative database performance summary information at the time when the script runs .All the objects create by UTLESTAT contain word end. UTLESTAT spools the results of these SQL statements to a file called REPORT.TXT Utlestat.sql Determine the shared Pool Performance. The shared pool is one of the memory structures in SGA .It is comprised of the data dictionary and the library cache. Check v$sgastat The data dictionary cache buffers data dictionary objects that contain data about tables, indexes, users and all other objects. The Library Cache/SQL Cache buffers previously executed queries, so that they need not be reloaded and reparsed if user calls them again. Otherwise if the information is not in the buffer then oracle must get it from disk. The V$LIBRAY CACHE View stores performance data for library cache and V$ROWCACHE view stores performance data for the data dictionary cache. Sometime we may have to increase the value of initialization parameter SHARED_POOL_SIZE. To improve the performance . Redo Log -Oracle 8 stores all changes to the database, even uncommitted changes, in the redo log files. LGWR writes . Alter database archievelog Edit the parameter initialization file. Log_archieve_start =true -turn it on

Log_archieve_dest=c:/oracle/ora81/archieve -location log_archieve_format="ARCH%S.LOG" - name format for archieve file . %S for log sequence number . By querying the V$SESSION view , we can determine who is logged on ,as well as information such as the time of logon . Kill a session - ALTER system kill session '&sid,&serial' Select Sid,serial#,status from V$session where username='name'; Unbalanced Index if we do have lot on index on a table and we are doing I/U/D frequently then there is a problem of disk contention . To check this problem sees the BLEVEL value in DBA_INDEXES and if it is 1,2,3,4 then its ok else rebuild the index . Alter index satish.a_satish rebuild unrecoverable ; Comments on table and columns --For documentation purpose . Comment table a is table a ; Retrieve comment from user_tab_comment Comment column a. a is column a; user_col_comments Detect the objects close to maximum extent Check in dba_seqment Detect row chaining and row migration in tables Row migration occurs when a database block doesnt contain enough free space to accommodate an update statement .In that case server moves the row to another block and maintains a pointer to to new block in the rows original block .when pctfree is 0 Row chaining in contrast , occurs when no single db block is larger enough to accommodate a particular row . this is common when table contain several large data types. It will reside in multiple database blocks . An unpleasant side effect of both chaining and migration is that the oracle * server must read more than one db block to read a single row . solution move rows to a temp table and then delete rows from original table and then insert it from temp table . Execute utlchain.sql Get information from CHAINED_ROWS or V$SYSSTAT 1. select city, sum(decode(gender,'male',1,0)) Male_cnt, sum(gender,'female',1,0) female_cnt from table_name group by city

SQLCODE returns the value of the error number for the last error encountered. The SQLERRM returns the actual error message for the last error encountered. They can be used in exception handling to report, or, store in an error log table, the error that occurred in the code. These are especially useful for the WHEN OTHERS exception. SQLERRM takes SQLCODE as the input. when the control is inside the exception block, then the value of sqlcode is negative. for user defined exceptions, the value of sqlcode is 1 and the value of sqlerrm is 'user defined exception'. Diff betn function and procedure? 1. Function is mainly used in the case where it must return a value. Where as a procedure may or may not return a value or may return more than one value using the OUT parameter. 2. Function can be called from SQL statements where as proc can not be called from the sql statements 3. Functions are normally used for computations where as procedures are normally used for executing business logic. 4. You can have DML (insert,update, delete) statements in a function. But, you cannot call such a function in a SQL query. 5. Function returns 1 value only. Procedure can return multiple values (max 1024). 6. Stored Procedure: supports deferred name resolution. Example while writing a stored procedure that uses table named tabl1 and tabl2 etc..but actually not exists in database is allowed only in during creation but runtime throws error Function wont support deferred name resolution. 7. Stored procedure returns always integer value by default zero. where as function return type could be scalar or table or table values 8. Stored procedure is precompiled execution plan where as functions are not. 9. A procedure may modify an object where a function can only return a value The RETURN statement immediately completes the execution of a subprogram and returns control to the caller.

Oracle Interview Questions

1. Explain the difference between a hot backup and a cold backup and the benefits associated with each. A hot backup is basically taking a backup of the database while it is still up and running and it must be in archive log mode. A cold backup is taking a backup of the database while it is shut down and does not require being in archive log mode. The benefit of taking a hot backup is that the database is still available for use while the backup is occurring and you can recover the database to any ball in time. The benefit of taking a cold backup is that it is typically easier to administer the backup and recovery process. In addition, since you are taking cold backups the database does not require being in archive log mode and thus there will be a slight performance gain as the database is not cutting archive logs to disk. 2. You have just had to restore from backup and do not have any control files. How would you go about bringing up this database? I would create a text based backup control file, stipulating where on disk all the data files where and then issue the recover command with the using backup control file clause. 3. How do you switch from an init.ora file to a spfile? Issue the create spfile from pfile command. 4. Explain the difference between a data block, an extent and a segment. A data block is the smallest unit of logical storage for a database object. As objects grow they take chunks of additional storage that are composed of contiguous data blocks. These groupings of contiguous data blocks are called extents. All the extents that an object takes when grouped together are considered the segment of the database object. 5. Give two examples of how you might determine the structure of the table DEPT. Use the describe command or use the dbms_metadata.get_ddl package. 6. Where would you look for errors from the database engine? In the alert log. 7. Compare and contrast TRUNCATE and DELETE for a table.

Both the truncate and delete command have the desired outcome of getting rid of all the rows in a table. The difference between the two is that the truncate command is a DDL operation and just moves the high water mark and produces a now rollback. The delete command, on the other hand, is a DML operation, which will produce a rollback and thus take longer to complete. 8. Give the reasoning behind using an index. Faster access to data blocks in a table. 9. Give the two types of tables involved in producing a star schema and the type of data they hold. Fact tables and dimension tables. A fact table contains measurements while dimension tables will contain data that will help describe the fact tables. 10. What type of index should you use on a fact table? A Bitmap index. 11. Give some examples of the types of database contraints you may find in Oracle and indicate their purpose. A Primary or Unique Key can be used to enforce uniqueness on one or more columns. A Referential Integrity Contraint can be used to enforce a Foreign Key relationship between two tables. A Not Null constraint - to ensure a value is entered in a column A Value Constraint - to check a column value against a specific set of values.

12. A table is classified as a parent table and you want to drop and re-create it. How would you do this without affecting the children tables? Disable the foreign key constraint to the parent, drop the table, re-create the table, enable the foreign key constraint. 13. Explain the difference between ARCHIVELOG mode and NOARCHIVELOG mode and the benefits and disadvantages to each. ARCHIVELOG mode is a mode that you can put the database in for creating a backup of all transactions that have occurred in the database so that you can recover to any ball in time. NOARCHIVELOG mode is basically the absence of ARCHIVELOG mode and has the disadvantage of not being able to recover to any ball in time. NOARCHIVELOG mode does have the advantage of not having

to write transactions to an archive log and thus increases the performance of the database slightly. 14. What command would you use to create a backup control file? Alter database backup control file to trace. 15. Give the stages of instance startup to a usable state where normal users may access it. STARTUP NOMOUNT - Instance startup STARTUP MOUNT - The database is mounted STARTUP OPEN - The database is opened 16. What column differentiates the V$ views to the GV$ views and how? The INST_ID column which indicates the instance in a RAC environment the information came from. 17. How would you go about generating an EXPLAIN plan? Create a plan table with utlxplan.sql. Use the explain plan set statement_id = 'tst1' into plan_table for a SQL statement Look at the explain plan with utlxplp.sql or utlxpls.sql 18. How would you go about increasing the buffer cache hit ratio? Use the buffer cache advisory over a given workload and then query the v$db_cache_advice table. If a change was necessary then I would use the alter system set db_cache_size command. 19. Explain an ORA-01555. You get this error when you get a snapshot too old within rollback. It can usually be solved by increasing the undo retention or increasing the size of rollbacks. You should also look at the logic involved in the application getting the error message. 20. Explain the difference between $ORACLE_HOME and $ORACLE_BASE. ORACLE_BASE is the root directory for oracle. ORACLE_HOME located beneath ORACLE_BASE is where the oracle products reside.