Sometimes, an external source provides data in an unwanted format. As database users, we can only deal with whatever way the data has been formatted, and do our best to load it. Sometimes an interface has to be built specifically to perform a complex format load. The purpose of SQL*Loader is not only to provide a plain format data loader tool, but also a means to allow a complex data set to be loaded. The user can leverage the power of SQL*Loader by:
Loading several data files on the same session
Specifying a particular character sets to be loaded
Conditionally loading data
Performing pre-loading phases
Loading data from a variety of sources, including named pipes
Loading either logical or physical records
Loading regular data as well as Large Objects and object/relational data
Taking advantage of parallelism and direct path loads to accelerate the load process
SQL*Loader's architecture is both simple and elegant. It requires at least one or two input files to start processing...