Oracle Reserved Words, Keywords, and Namespaces

Oracle Reserved Words
Oracle Keywords

This appendix lists words that have a special meaning to Oracle. Each word plays a specific role in the context in which it appears. For example, in an INSERT statement, the reserved word INTO introduces the tables to which rows will be added. But, in a FETCH or SELECT statement, the reserved word INTO introduces the output host variables to which column values will be assigned.

Oracle Reserved Words

The following words are reserved by Oracle. That is, they have a special meaning to Oracle and so cannot be redefined. For this reason, you cannot use them to name database objects such as columns, tables, or indexes.

ACCESS ELSE MODIFY START
ADD EXCLUSIVE NOAUDIT SELECT
ALL EXISTS NOCOMPRESS SESSION
ALTER FILE NOT SET
AND FLOAT NOTFOUND SHARE
ANY FOR NOWAIT SIZE
ARRAYLEN FROM NULL SMALLINT
AS GRANT NUMBER SQLBUF
ASC GROUP OF SUCCESSFUL
AUDIT HAVING OFFLINE SYNONYM
BETWEEN IDENTIFIED ON SYSDATE
BY IMMEDIATE ONLINE TABLE
CHAR IN OPTION THEN
CHECK INCREMENT OR TO
CLUSTER INDEX ORDER TRIGGER
COLUMN INITIAL PCTFREE UID
COMMENT INSERT PRIOR UNION
COMPRESS INTEGER PRIVILEGES UNIQUE
CONNECT INTERSECT PUBLIC UPDATE
CREATE INTO RAW USER
CURRENT IS RENAME VALIDATE
DATE LEVEL RESOURCE VALUES
DECIMAL LIKE REVOKE VARCHAR
DEFAULT LOCK ROW VARCHAR2
DELETE LONG ROWID VIEW
DESC MAXEXTENTS ROWLABEL WHENEVER
DISTINCT MINUS ROWNUM WHERE
DROP MODE ROWS WITH

Oracle Keywords

The following words also have a special meaning to Oracle but are not reserved words and so can be redefined. However, some might eventually become reserved words.

ADMIN CURSOR FOUND MOUNT
AFTER CYCLE FUNCTION NEXT
ALLOCATE DATABASE GO NEW
ANALYZE DATAFILE GOTO NOARCHIVELOG
ARCHIVE DBA GROUPS NOCACHE
ARCHIVELOG DEC INCLUDING NOCYCLE
AUTHORIZATION DECLARE INDICATOR NOMAXVALUE
AVG DISABLE INITRANS NOMINVALUE
BACKUP DISMOUNT INSTANCE NONE
BEGIN DOUBLE INT NOORDER
BECOME DUMP KEY NORESETLOGS
BEFORE EACH LANGUAGE NORMAL
BLOCK ENABLE LAYER NOSORT
BODY END LINK NUMERIC
CACHE ESCAPE LISTS OFF
CANCEL EVENTS LOGFILE OLD
CASCADE EXCEPT MANAGE ONLY
CHANGE EXCEPTIONS MANUAL OPEN
CHARACTER EXEC MAX OPTIMAL
CHECKPOINT EXPLAIN MAXDATAFILES OWN
CLOSE EXECUTE MAXINSTANCES PACKAGE
COBOL EXTENT MAXLOGFILES PARALLEL
COMMIT EXTERNALLY MAXLOGHISTORY PCTINCREASE
COMPILE FETCH MAXLOGMEMBERS PCTUSED
CONSTRAINT FLUSH MAXTRANS PLAN
CONSTRAINTS FREELIST MAXVALUE PLI
CONTENTS FREELISTS MIN PRECISION
CONTINUE FORCE MINEXTENTS PRIMARY
CONTROLFILE FOREIGN MINVALUE PRIVATE
COUNT FORTRAN MODULE PROCEDURE

Oracle Keywords (continued):

PROFILE SAVEPOINT SQLSTATE TRACING
QUOTA SCHEMA STATEMENT_ID TRANSACTION
READ SCN STATISTICS TRIGGERS
REAL SECTION STOP TRUNCATE
RECOVER SEGMENT STORAGE UNDER
REFERENCES SEQUENCE SUM UNLIMITED
REFERENCING SHARED SWITCH UNTIL
RESETLOGS SNAPSHOT SYSTEM USE
RESTRICTED SOME TABLES USING
REUSE SORT TABLESPACE WHEN
ROLE SQL TEMPORARY WRITE
ROLES SQLCODE THREAD WORK
ROLLBACK SQLERROR TIME

PL/SQL Reserved Words

The following PL/SQL keywords may require special treatment when used in embedded SQL statements.

ABORT BETWEEN CRASH DIGITS
ACCEPT BINARY_INTEGER CREATE DISPOSE
ACCESS BODY CURRENT DISTINCT
ADD BOOLEAN CURRVAL DO
ALL BY CURSOR DROP
ALTER CASE DATABASE ELSE
AND CHAR DATA_BASE ELSIF
ANY CHAR_BASE DATE END
ARRAY CHECK DBA ENTRY
ARRAYLEN CLOSE DEBUGOFF EXCEPTION
AS CLUSTER DEBUGON EXCEPTION_INIT
ASC CLUSTERS DECLARE EXISTS
ASSERT COLAUTH DECIMAL EXIT
ASSIGN COLUMNS DEFAULT FALSE
AT COMMIT DEFINITION FETCH
AUTHORIZATION COMPRESS DELAY FLOAT
AVG CONNECT DELETE FOR
BASE_TABLE CONSTANT DELTA FORM
BEGIN COUNT DESC FROM

PL/SQL Reserved Words (continued):

FUNCTION NEW RELEASE SUM
GENERIC NEXTVAL REMR TABAUTH
GOTO NOCOMPRESS RENAME TABLE
GRANT NOT RESOURCE TABLES
GROUP NULL RETURN TASK
HAVING NUMBER REVERSE TERMINATE
IDENTIFIED NUMBER_BASE REVOKE THEN
IF OF ROLLBACK TO
IN ON ROWID TRUE
INDEX OPEN ROWLABEL TYPE
INDEXES OPTION ROWNUM UNION
INDICATOR OR ROWTYPE UNIQUE
INSERT ORDER RUN UPDATE
INTEGER OTHERS SAVEPOINT USE
INTERSECT OUT SCHEMA VALUES
INTO PACKAGE SELECT VARCHAR
IS PARTITION SEPARATE VARCHAR2
LEVEL PCTFREE SET VARIANCE
LIKE POSITIVE SIZE VIEW
LIMITED PRAGMA SMALLINT VIEWS
LOOP PRIOR SPACE WHEN
MAX PRIVATE SQL WHERE
MIN PROCEDURE SQLCODE WHILE
MINUS PUBLIC SQLERRM WITH
MLSLABEL RAISE START WORK
MOD RANGE STATEMENT XOR
MODE REAL STDDEV
NATURAL RECORD SUBTYPE

Oracle Reserved Namespaces

Table B - 1 contains a list of namespaces that are reserved by Oracle. The initial characters of function names in Oracle libraries are restricted to the character strings in this list. Because of potential name conflicts, use function names that do not begin with these characters.

For example, the SQL*Net Transparent Network Service functions all begin with the characters "NS," so you need to avoid naming functions that begin with "NS."

Namespace Library
O OCI functions
S function names from SQLLIB and system-dependent libraries
XA external functions for XA applications only
GEN KP L NA NC ND NL NM NR NS NT NZ TTC UPI Internal functions

Table B - 1. Oracle Reserved Namespaces

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Index

`ACCESS`	`ELSE`	`MODIFY`	`START`
`ADD`	`EXCLUSIVE`	`NOAUDIT`	`SELECT`
`ALL`	`EXISTS`	`NOCOMPRESS`	`SESSION`
`ALTER`	`FILE`	`NOT`	`SET`
`AND`	`FLOAT`	`NOTFOUND`	`SHARE`
`ANY`	`FOR`	`NOWAIT`	`SIZE`
`ARRAYLEN`	`FROM`	`NULL`	`SMALLINT`
`AS`	`GRANT`	`NUMBER`	`SQLBUF`
`ASC`	`GROUP`	`OF`	`SUCCESSFUL`
`AUDIT`	`HAVING`	`OFFLINE`	`SYNONYM`
`BETWEEN`	`IDENTIFIED`	`ON`	`SYSDATE`
`BY`	`IMMEDIATE`	`ONLINE`	`TABLE`
`CHAR`	`IN`	`OPTION`	`THEN`
`CHECK`	`INCREMENT`	`OR`	`TO`
`CLUSTER`	`INDEX`	`ORDER`	`TRIGGER`
`COLUMN`	`INITIAL`	`PCTFREE`	`UID`
`COMMENT`	`INSERT`	`PRIOR`	`UNION`
`COMPRESS`	`INTEGER`	`PRIVILEGES`	`UNIQUE`
`CONNECT`	`INTERSECT`	`PUBLIC`	`UPDATE`
`CREATE`	`INTO`	`RAW`	`USER`
`CURRENT`	`IS`	`RENAME`	`VALIDATE`
`DATE`	`LEVEL`	`RESOURCE`	`VALUES`
`DECIMAL`	`LIKE`	`REVOKE`	`VARCHAR`
`DEFAULT`	`LOCK`	`ROW`	`VARCHAR2`
`DELETE`	`LONG`	`ROWID`	`VIEW`
`DESC`	`MAXEXTENTS`	`ROWLABEL`	`WHENEVER`
`DISTINCT`	`MINUS`	`ROWNUM`	`WHERE`
`DROP`	`MODE`	`ROWS`	`WITH`

`ADMIN`	`CURSOR`	`FOUND`	`MOUNT`
`AFTER`	`CYCLE`	`FUNCTION`	`NEXT`
`ALLOCATE`	`DATABASE`	`GO`	`NEW`
`ANALYZE`	`DATAFILE`	`GOTO`	`NOARCHIVELOG`
`ARCHIVE`	`DBA`	`GROUPS`	`NOCACHE`
`ARCHIVELOG`	`DEC`	`INCLUDING`	`NOCYCLE`
`AUTHORIZATION`	`DECLARE`	`INDICATOR`	`NOMAXVALUE`
`AVG`	`DISABLE`	`INITRANS`	`NOMINVALUE`
`BACKUP`	`DISMOUNT`	`INSTANCE`	`NONE`
`BEGIN`	`DOUBLE`	`INT`	`NOORDER`
`BECOME`	`DUMP`	`KEY`	`NORESETLOGS`
`BEFORE`	`EACH`	`LANGUAGE`	`NORMAL`
`BLOCK`	`ENABLE`	`LAYER`	`NOSORT`
`BODY`	`END`	`LINK`	`NUMERIC`
`CACHE`	`ESCAPE`	`LISTS`	`OFF`
`CANCEL`	`EVENTS`	`LOGFILE`	`OLD`
`CASCADE`	`EXCEPT`	`MANAGE`	`ONLY`
`CHANGE`	`EXCEPTIONS`	`MANUAL`	`OPEN`
`CHARACTER`	`EXEC`	`MAX`	`OPTIMAL`
`CHECKPOINT`	`EXPLAIN`	`MAXDATAFILES`	`OWN`
`CLOSE`	`EXECUTE`	`MAXINSTANCES`	`PACKAGE`
`COBOL`	`EXTENT`	`MAXLOGFILES`	`PARALLEL`
`COMMIT`	`EXTERNALLY`	`MAXLOGHISTORY`	`PCTINCREASE`
`COMPILE`	`FETCH`	`MAXLOGMEMBERS`	`PCTUSED`
`CONSTRAINT`	`FLUSH`	`MAXTRANS`	`PLAN`
`CONSTRAINTS`	`FREELIST`	`MAXVALUE`	`PLI`
`CONTENTS`	`FREELISTS`	`MIN`	`PRECISION`
`CONTINUE`	`FORCE`	`MINEXTENTS`	`PRIMARY`
`CONTROLFILE`	`FOREIGN`	`MINVALUE`	`PRIVATE`
`COUNT`	`FORTRAN`	`MODULE`	`PROCEDURE`

`PROFILE`	`SAVEPOINT`	`SQLSTATE`	`TRACING`
`QUOTA`	`SCHEMA`	`STATEMENT_ID`	`TRANSACTION`
`READ`	`SCN`	`STATISTICS`	`TRIGGERS`
`REAL`	`SECTION`	`STOP`	`TRUNCATE`
`RECOVER`	`SEGMENT`	`STORAGE`	`UNDER`
`REFERENCES`	`SEQUENCE`	`SUM`	`UNLIMITED`
`REFERENCING`	`SHARED`	`SWITCH`	`UNTIL`
`RESETLOGS`	`SNAPSHOT`	`SYSTEM`	`USE`
`RESTRICTED`	`SOME`	`TABLES`	`USING`
`REUSE`	`SORT`	`TABLESPACE`	`WHEN`
`ROLE`	`SQL`	`TEMPORARY`	`WRITE`
`ROLES`	`SQLCODE`	`THREAD`	`WORK`
`ROLLBACK`	`SQLERROR`	`TIME`

`ABORT`	`BETWEEN`	`CRASH`	`DIGITS`
`ACCEPT`	`BINARY_INTEGER`	`CREATE`	`DISPOSE`
`ACCESS`	`BODY`	`CURRENT`	`DISTINCT`
`ADD`	`BOOLEAN`	`CURRVAL`	`DO`
`ALL`	`BY`	`CURSOR`	`DROP`
`ALTER`	`CASE`	`DATABASE`	`ELSE`
`AND`	`CHAR`	`DATA_BASE`	`ELSIF`
`ANY`	`CHAR_BASE`	`DATE`	`END`
`ARRAY`	`CHECK`	`DBA`	`ENTRY`
`ARRAYLEN`	`CLOSE`	`DEBUGOFF`	`EXCEPTION`
`AS`	`CLUSTER`	`DEBUGON`	`EXCEPTION_INIT`
`ASC`	`CLUSTERS`	`DECLARE`	`EXISTS`
`ASSERT`	`COLAUTH`	`DECIMAL`	`EXIT`
`ASSIGN`	`COLUMNS`	`DEFAULT`	`FALSE`
`AT`	`COMMIT`	`DEFINITION`	`FETCH`
`AUTHORIZATION`	`COMPRESS`	`DELAY`	`FLOAT`
`AVG`	`CONNECT`	`DELETE`	`FOR`
`BASE_TABLE`	`CONSTANT`	`DELTA`	`FORM`
`BEGIN`	`COUNT`	`DESC`	`FROM`

`FUNCTION`	`NEW`	`RELEASE`	`SUM`
`GENERIC`	`NEXTVAL`	`REMR`	`TABAUTH`
`GOTO`	`NOCOMPRESS`	`RENAME`	`TABLE`
`GRANT`	`NOT`	`RESOURCE`	`TABLES`
`GROUP`	`NULL`	`RETURN`	`TASK`
`HAVING`	`NUMBER`	`REVERSE`	`TERMINATE`
`IDENTIFIED`	`NUMBER_BASE`	`REVOKE`	`THEN`
`IF`	`OF`	`ROLLBACK`	`TO`
`IN`	`ON`	`ROWID`	`TRUE`
`INDEX`	`OPEN`	`ROWLABEL`	`TYPE`
`INDEXES`	`OPTION`	`ROWNUM`	`UNION`
`INDICATOR`	`OR`	`ROWTYPE`	`UNIQUE`
`INSERT`	`ORDER`	`RUN`	`UPDATE`
`INTEGER`	`OTHERS`	`SAVEPOINT`	`USE`
`INTERSECT`	`OUT`	`SCHEMA`	`VALUES`
`INTO`	`PACKAGE`	`SELECT`	`VARCHAR`
`IS`	`PARTITION`	`SEPARATE`	`VARCHAR2`
`LEVEL`	`PCTFREE`	`SET`	`VARIANCE`
`LIKE`	`POSITIVE`	`SIZE`	`VIEW`
`LIMITED`	`PRAGMA`	`SMALLINT`	`VIEWS`
`LOOP`	`PRIOR`	`SPACE`	`WHEN`
`MAX`	`PRIVATE`	`SQL`	`WHERE`
`MIN`	`PROCEDURE`	`SQLCODE`	`WHILE`
`MINUS`	`PUBLIC`	`SQLERRM`	`WITH`
`MLSLABEL`	`RAISE`	`START`	`WORK`
`MOD`	`RANGE`	`STATEMENT`	`XOR`
`MODE`	`REAL`	`STDDEV`
`NATURAL`	`RECORD`	`SUBTYPE`

Namespace	Library
O	OCI functions
S	function names from SQLLIB and system-dependent libraries
XA	external functions for XA applications only
GEN KP L NA NC ND NL NM NR NS NT NZ TTC UPI	Internal functions