SQL*Plus Tutorial

SQL*Plus COLUMN Command

COLUMN command allows you to control the format of a column and has the following syntax:

COL [UMN] [{column_name | alias} [option]]

Main options of this command are listed below:

- CLE [WOULD] suppresses all formatting of the column.

- ALI [AS] alias assigns a column alias specified, which can be used to reference the column in the orders BREAK, COMPUTE CLAUSE, COLUMN.

- HEA [DING] text sets the title column of the tip (the character "|" determines the transition to a new line in the column.

- FOR [MAT] format determines how to display the data column.

- NOPRI [NT] hide column.

- NUL[L] text specifies the text that will be displayed in place of null values.

- PRI [NT] determines the display column.


If you don't specify any option of the command COLUMN, it will display the current settings for a column (COLUMN column_name) or for all columns (COLUMN).

Order CLE COL [WOULD] [UMN] determined suppression settings all columns.

Format a column is specified by a text constant.
For columns of type char, the default width is as defined in the database. By default, SQL * Plus aligns these columns to the left