External Table which can handle appending multiple csv files dynamic

Question

I need an external table which can handle appending multiple csv files' values.
But the problem I am having is : the number of csv files are not fixed.
I can have between 2 to 6-7 files with the suffix as current_date. Lets say it will be like my_file1_aug_08_1.csv, my_file1_aug_08_2.csv, my_file1_aug_08_3.csv etc. and so on.
I can do it by following as hardcoding if I know the number of files, but unfortunately the number is not fixed and need to something dynamically to inject with a wildcard search of file pattern.
CREATE TABLE my_et_tbl
  my_field1 varchar2(4000),
  my_field2 varchar2(4000)
ORGANIZATION EXTERNAL
  (  TYPE ORACLE_LOADER
     DEFAULT DIRECTORY my_et_dir
     ACCESS PARAMETERS
       ( RECORDS DELIMITED BY NEWLINE
        FIELDS TERMINATED BY ','
        MISSING FIELD VALUES ARE NULL  )
     LOCATION (UTL_DIR:'my_file2_5_aug_08.csv','my_file2_5_aug_08.csv')
REJECT LIMIT UNLIMITED
NOPARALLEL
NOMONITORING;Please advice me with your ideas. thanks.
Joshua..

Answer 1

Well, you could do it dynamically by constructing location value:
SQL> CREATE TABLE emp_load
  2      (
  3       employee_number      CHAR(5),
  4       employee_dob         CHAR(20),
  5       employee_last_name   CHAR(20),
  6       employee_first_name  CHAR(15),
  7       employee_middle_name CHAR(15),
  8       employee_hire_date   DATE
  9      )
10    ORGANIZATION EXTERNAL
11      (
12       TYPE ORACLE_LOADER
13       DEFAULT DIRECTORY tmp
14       ACCESS PARAMETERS
15         (
16          RECORDS DELIMITED BY NEWLINE
17          FIELDS (
18                  employee_number      CHAR(2),
19                  employee_dob         CHAR(20),
20                  employee_last_name   CHAR(18),
21                  employee_first_name  CHAR(11),
22                  employee_middle_name CHAR(11),
23                  employee_hire_date   CHAR(10) date_format DATE mask "mm/dd/yyyy"
24                 )
25         )
26       LOCATION ('info*.dat')
27      )
28  /
Table created.
SQL> select * from emp_load;
select * from emp_load
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-29913: error in executing ODCIEXTTABLEOPEN callout
SQL> set serveroutput on
SQL> declare
  2      v_exists      boolean;
  3      v_file_length number;
  4      v_blocksize   number;
  5      v_stmt        varchar2(1000) := 'alter table emp_load location(';
  6      i             number := 1;
  7  begin
  8      loop
  9        utl_file.fgetattr(
10                          'TMP',
11                          'info' || i || '.dat',
12                          v_exists,
13                          v_file_length,
14                          v_blocksize
15                         );
16        exit when not v_exists;
17        v_stmt := v_stmt || '''info' || i || '.dat'',';
18        i := i + 1;
19      end loop;
20      v_stmt := rtrim(v_stmt,',') || ')';
21      dbms_output.put_line(v_stmt);
22      execute immediate v_stmt;
23  end;
24  /
alter table emp_load location('info1.dat','info2.dat')
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL> select * from emp_load;
EMPLO EMPLOYEE_DOB         EMPLOYEE_LAST_NAME   EMPLOYEE_FIRST_ EMPLOYEE_MIDDLE
EMPLOYEE_
56    november, 15, 1980   baker                mary            alice     0
01-SEP-04
87    december, 20, 1970   roper                lisa            marie     0
01-JAN-99
SQL> SY.
P.S. Keep in mind that changing location will affect all sessions referencing external table.