Oracle SQLPlus [Electronic resources] : The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition نسخه متنی

2.12 The Working Directory

Whenever you work with files in SQL*Plus, you must understand the
concept of a working directory. The working
directory is simply the directory that is used whenever
you specify a filename without also including a path. The working
directory is where SQL*Plus writes temporary files, such as the
afiedt.buf file created when you invoke the EDIT
command.

If you work under an operating system like Unix, you will be familiar
with the concept of a current working directory. You will likely need
to know how to move between directories, and will be familiar with
commands such as pwd that tell you what your
current directory is. The working directory simply happens to be
whatever directory you are in when you invoke SQL*Plus.

Users of the Microsoft Windows operating system tend to be a bit
insulated from the concept of a current directory. SQL*Plus is often
invoked under Windows by clicking an icon, and the user often does
not think of himself as being "in"
any particular directory when this is done. Nonetheless, some
directory will be current when you run SQL*Plus under Windows. Take a
look at Figure 2-9. It shows the properties for the
SQL*Plus menu item under Windows XP.

Notice the Start in setting shown in Figure 2-9. It's set to the
c:\oracle\product\10.1.1.0\Db_1\BIN directory,
the same directory in which the executable
sits.

The
implication is that whenever you run SQL*Plus under Windows and use
the @ command to execute a file, and you don't
specify a path, SQL*Plus will look in Oracle's
BIN directory. Likewise, the

SAVE
and
GET
commands will write and read from the BIN
directory, at least by default. And when you use the EDIT command, the
temporary file afiedt.buf will be created in the
BIN directory.

It's best, if you are using SQL*Plus under Windows, to specify a path when you save a query to a file. If you save a file and later can't seem to find it, the Oracle BIN directory is the first place you should look.

You can change the
default directory if you like. One
way would be to edit the shortcut properties and change the
Start in setting to some other directory.
Sometimes, I'll create a second copy of the SQL*Plus
shortcut, for a specific project, pointing the Start
in directory to my project directory. Then I can easily
start the Windows GUI version of SQL*Plus and begin editing or
executing my scripts.