Never seen this kind of syntax and don't know what it means

Question

Dear all;
I am looking at someone else code and he has the following strange syntax which I dont understand...Any hint on will help a lot. Thank you.
select  BITS_TEXT as record
from tbl_inventory r, tbl_order w
where w.type = 'C'
and w.sid = '1'
and r.inventory_type = 'H'
and r.bid = w.order_bid'what does the BITS_TEXT as record mean..thank you.

Answer 1

It's nothing but a (poorly chosen) column alias:
SQL> desc t
Name                                  
COL                                   
SQL> select col from t;
COL
X
1 row selected.
SQL> select col as record from t;
RECORD
X
1 row selected."Specify an alias for the column expression. Oracle Database will use this alias in the column heading of the result set. The AS keyword is optional."
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B19306_01/server.102/b14200/statements_10002.htm#sthref9775
Edited by: hoek on Sep 30, 2010 4:30 PM