What does "/" do in PL/SQL?

Question

I reviewing some PL/SQL code and I came across the following in the scripts:

/
SHOW error

grant execute on someName1 to someName2;

/
SHOW error

Reviewing the documentation for PL/SQL I could not find an explanation what the /'s do.

Can anyone enlighten me?

Update: I opened the file that includes this script in SQL Developer for Mac. Compiling it gives the error "encountered the symbol '/'". Should these slashes be removed?

Just a note: `SHOW error` is also a SQL Plus command, not part of PL/SQL. As to whether the `/` should be removed, how are the scripts generally used, if working with a team, there needs to be some agreement about tools and how scripts will be constructed. — Shannon Severance, Feb 01 '11 at 06:03

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 31 '11 at 23:58

7

"/" executes the sql command in the current buffer. It similar to GO of SQL Server

answered Jan 31 '11 at 23:58

Chandu

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Does "buffer" correspond to "batch" in SQL Server? – Just a learner Aug 02 '19 at 10:56
Go in SQL Server or to be exact in T-SQL shows the end of the scope of a batch so I think it cannot be similar to / in PL/SQL! Would you please explain a little bit more. – gyousefi Dec 19 '21 at 16:19

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 01 '11 at 00:00

The slash basically executes the latest command stored in the buffer.

It's kind of a clunky thing, but a lot of PL/SQL interpreters/engines like SQL Plus require you to enter a "/" after every complete statement to actually execute it and see the results.

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B28359_01/server.111/b31189/ch12004.htm#SQPUG162

What does "/" do in PL/SQL?

2 Answers2