Outputting data to a flat file

Question

Hi. Sorry if this is really a simple question, but I am new to PL/SQL and SQL.
I need to select all the fields from a table and output it to a flat file. Can you tell me how to do this, ie give me a sample code.
Thanks.

Answer 1

Hey CD,
Theres Nothing more simple than outputting values in to a flat file from PL/SQL.
1-Open a cursor containing your field values.
2- Use the UTL_FILE package from Oracle to output the results....
Like so:
PROCEDURE PROC_PROCEDURE()
IS
-- declare variables!
var_FileHandle UTL_FILE.FILE_TYPE; -- file handle
var_Values VARCHAR2(4000); -- record layout
-- declare cursors
CURSOR cur_cursor IS
SELECT *
FROM table
WHERE {conditions}
-- declare cursor variables
varcur_cursor cur_cursor%ROWTYPE;
BEGIN
-- Open File to write...
var_FileHandle := UTL_FILE.FOPEN(ExportFilePath, FileName, 'w', 8191);
-- Select records...
FOR varcur_cursor IN cur_cursor LOOP
-- Build INSERT statements...
var_Values := varcur_cursor.FIELDNAME1
| |varcur_cursor.FIELDNAME2
| | ...more fields....
-- Insert Values into flat file...
UTL_FILE.PUT_LINE(var_FileHandle, var_Values);
END LOOP;
-- Close text file...
UTL_FILE.FCLOSE(var_FileHandle);
END PROC_PROCEDURE;
Hope this helps!
Mg.