Oracle Call Interface Programmer's Guide, Volumes 1 & 2 Release 8.0 A58234-01 |
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# C
Oracle Reserved Words, Keywords and Namespaces

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.

The following sections are included:

- Oracle Reserved Words and Keywords
- PL/SQL Reserved Words
- Oracle Reserved Namespaces

## Oracle Reserved Words and Keywords

Oracle reserved words 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.

Keywords also have a special meaning to Oracle but are not reserved words and so can be redefined. However, some might eventually become reserved words, so care should be taken when using them as variable or function names in an application.

The following table lists the Oracle reserved words and keywords:

##### Table C-1 Keywords and Reserved Words

Word | Type | Word | Type
--- | --- | --- | ---
| | Reserved word | AS | Reserved Word
& | Reserved word | ASC | Reserved Word
: | Reserved word | AT | Key Word
, | Reserved word | AUDIT | Reserved Word
- | Reserved word | AUTHENTICATED | Key Word
= | Reserved word | AUTHORIZATION | Key Word
> | Reserved word | AUTOEXTEND | Key Word
[ | Reserved word | AUTOMATIC | Key Word
< | Reserved word | AVG | Key Word
( | Reserved word |  |
. | Reserved word | BACKUP | Key Word
+ | Reserved word | BECOME | Key Word
] | Reserved word | BEFORE | Key Word
) | Reserved word | BEGIN | Key Word
! | Reserved word | BETWEEN | Reserved Word
/ | Reserved word | BFILE | Key Word
* | Reserved word | BITMAP | Key Word
^ | Reserved word | BLOB | Key Word
@ | Reserved word | BLOCK | Key Word
|  | BODY | Key Word
ACCESS | Reserved Word | BY | Reserved Word
ACCOUNT | Key Word |  |
ACTIVATE | Key Word | CACHE | Key Word
ADD | Reserved Word | CACHE_INSTANCES | Key Word
ADMIN | Key Word | CANCEL | Key Word
ADVISE | Key Word | CASCADE | Key Word
AFTER | Key Word | CAST | Key Word
ALL | Reserved Word | CFILE | Key Word
ALL_ROWS | Key Word | CHAINED | Key Word
ALLOCATE | Key Word | CHANGE | Key Word
ALTER | Reserved Word | CHAR | Reserved Word
ANALYZE | Key Word | CHAR_CS | Key Word
AND | Reserved Word | CHARACTER | Key Word
ANY | Reserved Word | CHECK | Reserved Word
ARCHIVE | Key Word | CHECKPOINT | Key Word
ARCHIVELOG | Key Word | CHOOSE | Key Word
ARRAY | Key Word | CHUNK | Key Word
ARRAYLEN | Key Word | CLEAR | Key Word
CLOB | Key Word | DATAFILE | Key Word
CLONE | Key Word | DATAFILES | Key Word
CLOSE | Key Word | DATAOBJNO | Key Word
CLOSE_CACHED_OPEN_CURSORS | Key Word | DATE | Reserved Word
CLUSTER | Reserved Word | DBA | Key Word
COALESCE | Key Word |  |
COBOL | Key Word |  |
COLUMN | Reserved Word |  |
COLUMNS | Key Word | DEALLOCATE | Key Word
COMMENT | Reserved Word | DEBUG | Key Word
COMMIT | Key Word | DEC | Key Word
COMMITTED | Key Word | DECIMAL | Reserved Word
COMPATIBILITY | Key Word | DECLARE | Key Word
COMPILE | Key Word | DEFAULT | Reserved Word
COMPLETE | Key Word | DEFERRABLE | Key Word
COMPOSITE_LIMIT | Key Word | DEFERRED | Key Word
COMPRESS | Reserved Word | DEGREE | Key Word
COMPUTE | Key Word | DELETE | Reserved Word
CONNECT | Reserved Word | DEREF | Key Word
CONNECT_TIME | Key Word | DESC | Reserved Word
CONSTRAINT | Key Word | DIRECTORY | Key Word
CONSTRAINTS | Key Word | DISABLE | Key Word
CONTENTS | Key Word | DISCONNECT | Key Word
CONTINUE | Key Word | DISMOUNT | Key Word
CONTROLFILE | Key Word | DISTINCT | Reserved Word
CONVERT | Key Word | DISTRIBUTED | Key Word
COST | Key Word | DML | Key Word
COUNT | Key Word | DOUBLE | Key Word
CPU_PER_CALL | Key Word | DROP | Reserved Word
CPU_PER_SESSION | Key Word | DUMP | Key Word
CREATE | Reserved Word |  |
CURRENT | Reserved Word | EACH | Key Word
CURRENT_SCHEMA | Key Word | ELSE | Reserved Word
CURRENT_USER | Key Word | ENABLE | Key Word
CURSOR | Reserved Word | END | Key Word
CYCLE | Key Word | ENFORCE | Key Word
|  | ENTRY | Key Word
DANGLING | Key Word | ESCAPE | Key Word
DATABASE | Key Word | ESTIMATE | Key Word
EVENTS | Key Word | GO | Key Word
EXCEPT | Key Word | GOTO | Key Word
EXCEPTIONS | Key Word | GRANT | Reserved Word
EXCHANGE | Key Word | GROUP | Reserved Word
EXCLUDING | Key Word | GROUPS | Key Word
EXCLUSIVE | Reserved Word |  |
EXEC | Key Word | HASH | Key Word
EXECUTE | Key Word | HASHKEYS | Key Word
EXISTS | Reserved Word | HAVING | Reserved Word
EXPIRE | Key Word | HEADER | Key Word
EXPLAIN | Key Word | HEAP | Key Word
EXTENT | Key Word |  |
EXTENTS | Key Word | IDENTIFIED | Reserved Word
EXTERNALLY | Key Word | IDGENERATORS | Key Word
|  | IDLE_TIME | Key Word
FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS | Key Word | IF | Key Word
FALSE | Key Word | IMMEDIATE | Reserved Word
FAST | Key Word | IN | Reserved Word
FETCH | Key Word | INCLUDING | Key Word
FILE | Reserved Word | INCREMENT | Reserved Word
FIRST_ROWS | Key Word | INDEX | Reserved Word
FLAGGER | Key Word | INDEXED | Key Word
FLOAT | Reserved Word | INDEXES | Key Word
FLOB | Key Word | INDICATOR | Key Word
FLUSH | Key Word | IND_PARTITION | Key Word
FOR | Reserved Word | INITIAL | Reserved Word
FORCE | Key Word | INITIALLY | Key Word
FOREIGN | Key Word | INITRANS | Key Word
FORTRAN | Key Word | INSERT | Reserved Word
FOUND | Key Word | INSTANCE | Key Word
FREELIST | Key Word | INSTANCES | Key Word
FREELISTS | Key Word | INSTEAD | Key Word
FROM | Reserved Word | INT | Key Word
FULL | Key Word | INTEGER | Reserved Word
FUNCTION | Key Word | INTERMEDIATE | Key Word
|  | INTERSECT | Reserved Word
GLOBAL | Key Word | INTO | Reserved Word
GLOBALLY | Key Word | IS | Reserved Word
GLOBAL_NAME | Key Word | ISOLATION | Key Word
ISOLATION_LEVEL | Key Word | MAXSIZE | Key Word
|  | MAXTRANS | Key Word
KEEP | Key Word | MAXVALUE | Key Word
KEY | Key Word | MIN | Key Word
KILL | Key Word | MEMBER | Key Word
|  | MINIMUM | Key Word
LABEL | Key Word | MINEXTENTS | Key Word
LANGUAGE | Key Word | MINUS | Reserved Word
LAYER | Key Word | MINVALUE | Key Word
LESS | Key Word | MLSLABEL | Reserved Word
LEVEL | Reserved Word |  |
LIBRARY | Key Word |  |
LIKE | Reserved Word | MODE | Reserved Word
LIMIT | Key Word | MODIFY | Reserved Word
LINK | Key Word | MODULE | Key Word
LIST | Key Word | MOUNT | Key Word
LISTS | Key Word | MOVE | Key Word
LOB | Key Word | MTS_DISPATCHERS | Key Word
LOCAL | Key Word | MULTISET | Key Word
LOCK | Reserved Word |  |
LOCKED | Key Word | NATIONAL | Key Word
LOG | Key Word | NCHAR | Key Word
LOGFILE | Key Word | NCHAR_CS | Key Word
LOGGING | Key Word | NCLOB | Key Word
LOGICAL_READS_PER_CALL | Key Word | NEEDED | Key Word
LOGICAL_READS_PER_SESSION | Key Word | NESTED | Key Word
LONG | Reserved Word | NETWORK | Key Word
|  | NEW | Key Word
MANAGE | Key Word | NEXT | Key Word
MANUAL | Key Word | NOARCHIVELOG | Key Word
MASTER | Key Word | NOAUDIT | Reserved Word
MAX | Key Word | NOCACHE | Key Word
MAXARCHLOGS | Key Word | NOCOMPRESS | Reserved Word
MAXDATAFILES | Key Word | NOCYCLE | Key Word
MAXEXTENTS | Reserved Word | NOFORCE | Key Word
MAXINSTANCES | Key Word | NOLOGGING | Key Word
MAXLOGFILES | Key Word | NOMAXVALUE | Key Word
MAXLOGHISTORY | Key Word | NOMINVALUE | Key Word
MAXLOGMEMBERS | Key Word | NONE | Key Word
NOORDER | Key Word |  |
NOOVERRIDE | Key Word | PACKAGE | Key Word
NOPARALLEL | Key Word | PACKED | Key Word
NORESETLOGS | Key Word | PARALLEL | Key Word
NOREVERSE | Key Word | PARTITION | Key Word
NORMAL | Key Word | PASSWORD | Key Word
NOSORT | Key Word | PASSWORD_GRACE_TIME | Key Word
NOT | Reserved Word | PASSWORD_LIFE_TIME | Key Word
NOTFOUND | Reserved Word | PASSWORD_LOCK_TIME | Key Word
NOTHING | Key Word | PASSWORD_REUSE_MAX | Key Word
NOWAIT | Reserved Word | PASSWORD_REUSE_TIME | Key Word
NULL | Reserved Word | PASSWORD_VERIFY_FUNCTION | Key Word
NUMBER | Reserved Word | PCTFREE | Reserved Word
NUMERIC | Key Word | PCTINCREASE | Key Word
NVARCHAR2 | Key Word | PCTTHRESHOLD | Key Word
|  | PCTUSED | Key Word
OBJECT | Key Word | PCTVERSION | Key Word
OBJNO | Key Word | PERCENT | Key Word
OBJNO_REUSE | Key Word | PERMANENT | Key Word
OF | Reserved Word | PLAN | Key Word
OFF | Key Word | PLI | Key Word
OFFLINE | Reserved Word | PLSQL_DEBUG | Key Word
OID | Key Word | POST_TRANSACTION | Key Word
OIDINDEX | Key Word | PRECISION | Key Word
OLD | Key Word | PRESERVE | Key Word
ON | Reserved Word | PRIMARY | Key Word
ONLINE | Reserved Word | PRIOR | Reserved Word
ONLY | Key Word | PRIVATE | Key Word
OPCODE | Key Word | PRIVATE_SGA | Key Word
OPEN | Key Word | PRIVILEGE | Key Word
OPTIMAL | Key Word | PRIVILEGES | Reserved Word
OPTIMIZER_GOAL | Key Word | PROCEDURE | Key Word
OPTION | Reserved Word | PROFILE | Key Word
OR | Reserved Word | PUBLIC | Reserved Word
ORDER | Reserved Word | PURGE | Key Word
ORGANIZATION | Key Word |  |
|  | QUEUE | Key Word
OVERFLOW | Key Word | QUOTA | Key Word
OWN | Key Word |  |
RANGE | Key Word | SCAN_INSTANCES | Key Word
RAW | Reserved Word | SCHEMA | Key Word
RBA | Key Word | SCN | Key Word
READ | Key Word | SCOPE | Key Word
|  | SD_ALL | Key Word
REAL | Key Word | SD_INHIBIT | Key Word
REBUILD | Key Word | SD_SHOW | Key Word
RECOVER | Key Word | SECTION | Key Word
RECOVERABLE | Key Word | SEGMENT | Key Word
RECOVERY | Key Word | SEG_BLOCK | Key Word
REF | Key Word | SEG_FILE | Key Word
REFERENCES | Key Word | SELECT | Reserved Word
REFERENCING | Key Word | SEQUENCE | Key Word
REFRESH | Key Word | SERIALIZABLE | Key Word
RENAME | Reserved Word | SESSION | Reserved Word
REPLACE | Key Word | SESSION_CACHED_CURSORS | Key Word
RESET | Key Word | SESSIONS_PER_USER | Key Word
RESETLOGS | Key Word | SET | Reserved Word
RESIZE | Key Word | SHARE | Reserved Word
RESOURCE | Reserved Word | SHARED | Key Word
RESTRICTED | Key Word | SHARED_POOL | Key Word
RETURN | Key Word | SHRINK | Key Word
RETURNING | Key Word | SIZE | Reserved Word
REUSE | Key Word | SKIP | Key Word
REVERSE | Key Word | SKIP_UNUSABLE_INDEXES | Key Word
REVOKE | Reserved Word | SMALLINT | Reserved Word
ROLE | Key Word | SNAPSHOT | Key Word
ROLES | Key Word | SOME | Key Word
ROLLBACK | Key Word | SORT | Key Word
ROW | Reserved Word | SPECIFICATION | Key Word
ROWID | Reserved Word | SPLIT | Key Word
ROWLABEL | Reserved Word | SQL | Key Word
ROWNUM | Reserved Word | SQLBUF | Reserved Word
ROWS | Reserved Word | SQLCODE | Key Word
RULE | Key Word | SQLERROR | Key Word
|  | SQLSTATE | Key Word
SAMPLE | Key Word | SQL_TRACE | Key Word
SAVEPOINT | Key Word | STANDBY | Key Word
SB4 | Key Word | START | Reserved Word
STATEMENT_ID | Key Word | TX | Key Word
STATISTICS | Key Word | TYPE | Key Word
STOP | Key Word |  |
STORAGE | Key Word | UB2 | Key Word
STORE | Key Word | UBA | Key Word
STRUCTURE | Key Word | UID | Reserved Word
SUCCESSFUL | Reserved Word | UNARCHIVED | Key Word
SUM | Key Word | UNDER | Key Word
SWITCH | Key Word | UNDO | Key Word
SYS_OP_ENFORCE_NOT_NULL$ | Key Word | UNION | Reserved Word
SYS_OP_NTCIMG$ | Key Word | UNIQUE | Reserved Word
SYNONYM | Reserved Word | UNLIMITED | Key Word
SYSDATE | Reserved Word | UNLOCK | Key Word
SYSDBA | Key Word | UNPACKED | Key Word
SYSOPER | Key Word | UNRECOVERABLE | Key Word
SYSTEM | Key Word | UNTIL | Key Word
|  | UNUSABLE | Key Word
TABLE | Reserved Word | UNUSED | Key Word
TABLES | Key Word | UPDATABLE | Key Word
TABLESPACE | Key Word | UPDATE | Reserved Word
TABLESPACE_NO | Key Word | USAGE | Key Word
TABNO | Key Word | USE | Key Word
TEMPORARY | Key Word | USER | Reserved Word
THAN | Key Word | USING | Key Word
THE | Key Word |  |
THEN | Reserved Word | VALIDATE | Reserved Word
THREAD | Key Word | VALIDATION | Reserved Word
TIMESTAMP | Key Word | VALUE | Reserved Word
TIME | Key Word | VALUES | Reserved Word
TO | Reserved Word | VARCHAR | Reserved Word
TOPLEVEL | Key Word | VARCHAR2 | Reserved Word
TRACE | Key Word | VARYING | Key Word
TRACING | Key Word | VIEW | Reserved Word
TRANSACTION | Key Word |  |
TRANSITIONAL | Key Word | WHEN | Key Word
TRIGGER | Reserved Word | WHENEVER | Reserved Word
TRIGGERS | Key Word | WHERE | Reserved Word
TRUE | Key Word | WITH | Reserved Word
TRUNCATE | Key Word | WITHOUT | Key Word
WORK | Key Word |
WRITE | Key Word
XID | Key Word

## PL/SQL Reserved Words

For information about PL/SQL reserved words and keywords, refer to the
PL/SQL User's Guide and Reference.

## Oracle Reserved Namespaces

Table C-2 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."

##### Table C-2 Oracle Reserved Namespaces

Namespace | Library
--- | ---
XA | external functions for XA applications only
SQ | external SQLLIB functions used by Oracle Precompiler and SQL*Module applications
O, OCI | external OCI functions internal OCI functions
UPI, KP | function names from the Oracle UPI layer
NA NC ND NL NM NR NS NT NZ OSN TTC | SQL*Net Native services product SQL*Net RPC project SQL*Net Directory SQL*Net Network Library layer SQL*Net Net Management Project SQL*Net Interchange SQL*Net Transparent Network Service SQL*Net Drivers SQL*Net Security Service SQL*Net V1 SQL*Net Two task
GEN, L, ORA | Core library functions
LI, LM, LX | function names from the Oracle NLS layer
S | function names from system-dependent libraries

The list in Table C-2 is not a comprehensive list of all functions within the Oracle Reserved Namespaces. For a complete list of functions within a particular namespace, refer to the document that corresponds to the appropriate Oracle library.

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