SQL*Loader

SQL*Loader is a bulk loader utility used for moving data from external files into the Oracle database. Its syntax is similar to that of the DB2 Load utility, but comes with more options. SQL*Loader supports various load formats, selective loading, and multi-table loads. One can load data into an Oracle database by using the sqlldr (sqlload on some platforms) utility. Invoke the utility without arguments to get a list of available parameters.

SQL*Loader (sqlldr ) is the utility to use for high performance data loads. The data can be loaded from any text file and inserted into the database.

The below mentioned diagram depicts the SQL*Loader architecture. SQL*Loader reads a data file and a description of the data which is defined in the control file. Using this information and any additional specified parameters (either on the command line or in the PARFILE), SQL*Loader loads the data into the database.

During processing, SQL*Loader writes messages to the log file, bad rows to the bad file, and discarded rows to the discard file.