Is it possible to pass a TXT file as an input of a SQL script?

Question

Dear all,
I have a question about SQL scripts running in SQL*Plus. I have a table including a list of SAP UserIDs. I would like to check for several people whether their
ID already exists. Here is how I proceed in my script file.
SELECT sap_userid
FROM SAPREF_USERS
WHERE (sap_userid
IN
     'user1',
     'user2',
     'user3',
     'user4',
     'user5',
       .          /*  So here I write one by one each userid. Consequently if a user already exists, the script will print his/her UserID */
GROUP BY sap_userid
ORDER BY sap_useridWell, this works, but I'm sure there should be a more intelligent method to do the job. If I put all UserIDs in a let's say a TXT file (one userid per line) is there
any way to pass this text file as an input for the script so I may get rid of the very long IN clause in my SQL query?
Thanks in advance,
Kind Regards,
Dariyoosh

Answer 1

Yet Another Post Without Version.
Typing 4 digits and 3 dots, or running select * from v$version and paste the result here
Qualifies as work, and the very reason you post here is you want to avoid to work, or to earn as much as possible by doing as little as possible.
In 9i and higher, the file is best treated as an external table, so the whole list of userids is replaced by
in (select * from external_table)
But this requires reading documentation, which again qualifies as ... work.
Ahh, most 'DBA's here are quite hopeless.
Sybrand Bakker
Senior Oracle DBA