Using wildcards / specifying multiple directories with UTL_FILE_DIR

Question

Hi,
I would like to allow Oracle to write files to any subdirectory of a specified directory (say '/home/rolf'). Since the subdirectories may change often, I would like to specify this once in init.ora and not have to change it when I add a new directory. I was hoping something like:
UTL_FILE_DIR = /home/rolf/*
would do the trick, but alas, it doesn't seem to. Does anyone know a way to make a set of subdirectories writeable without having to list every single directory?
Thanks
--Rolf                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Answer 1

This is a very old thread. If you have a question you should really start your own thread for it.
In answer to your question...
UTL_FILE_DIR parameter has been deprecated since 10g.
You should no longer use the UTL_FILE_DIR parameter as it can leave security holes on your server, meaning people can access files and directories they shouldn't.
Oracle has replaced the functionality with Oracle Directories.
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/B19306_01/server.102/b14200/statements_5007.htm#SQLRF01207
Example usage:
As SYS user:
CREATE OR REPLACE DIRECTORY mydir AS 'c:\myfiles';Note: This does not create the directory on the file system. You have to do that yourself and ensure that oracle has permission to read/write to that file system directory.
Then, grant permission to the users who require access e.g....
GRANT READ,WRITE ON DIRECTORY mydir TO myuser;Then your user (myuser in this example) will use that directory object inside your FOPEN statement e.g.
fh := UTL_FILE.FOPEN('MYDIR', 'myfile.txt', 'r');Note: You MUST specify the directory object name in quotes and in UPPER case for this to work as it is a string that is referring to a database object name which will have been stored in uppercase by default.