Is there a good alternative to SQL*PLUS for Oracle?

Question

I am not a fan of using SQL*PLUS as an interface to Oracle. I usually use yasql, but it hasn't been updated since 2005 and can do with some improvements. A quick Google search shows yasql and SQLPal. I am using linux, so SQLPal is not an option.

Are there any alternatives out there, or am I stuck with an interface that I do not like or one that is no longer maintained?

Solution 1

I presume that you want a low-overhead method of knocking out queries, but want more functions than SQL*Plus provides? Why not use Oracle's SQL Developer? It's free.

Install, make a new connection to your database, then just start typing a script. Press F5 to run it (or just the part of the script that you've highlighted).

Solution 2

Take a look at gqlplus. It wraps sql*plus on linux and makes it more user-friendly by adding things like command history, table name completion and so on.

Solution 3

Emacs can provide so much more powerful text editing features and functionality beyond the default SQL*Plus command-line interface.

Here are a few links on how to use Emacs as a wrapper for SQL*Plus:

• Emacs and Oracle
• EmacsWiki:SqlPlus

Solution 4

TOAD is pretty expensive, but you can download a 90-day trial from the Quest site to see if it's got the feature set you want (don't be fooled by the "freeware" title - it's only free for 90 days, and then it expires, which definitely makes it shareware):

http://www.toadworld.com/Freeware/ToadforOracleFreeware/tabid/558/Default.aspx

Another options is a tool I've seen on CodeProject:

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/database/OQuery.aspx

It's in .NET, so you'd have to see if it compiled on Mono, but it might be worth a shot. I haven't used either tool (Toad or this one), since I'm a SQL Server guy, but I've heard good things about Toad.

Solution 5

You could try PL/SQL developer from allroundautomations, there is a trial available and the price is much lower than TOAD.

Regards K

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Comments

[BQ.]

+1 for TOAD, which is the better than Oracle's SQL Developer, but there's not a free version. The one you link to is a 60-day trial. quest.com/toad-for-oracle is the actual product page.

[eugened]

Hmm - you're right, that's not freeware at all, even though they call it that about a dozen times on the Quest site. I've updated the post.

[Thomas Keller]

This is indeed a very nice and handy tool. Now sqlplus just needs to be as smart about column sizes as mysql by default...

[Gaius]

TOAD used to be freeware, then Quest bought it from the author and productized it.

[Ludovic Kuty]

I prefer using rlwrap around SQL*Plus to have command history and decent editing.

[0xdb]

Unfortunately your link to vorax is dead

[vesperto]

Fortunately there are search engines

[hetOrakel]

I'm a little late on this, but as mentioned in the comments of the answer with the second most upvotes (Dan Vinton) there is rlwrap. rlwrap gives any application command line history with Ctrl-R (reverse-i-search). Then there is also SQLcl oracle.com/database/technologies/appdev/sqlcl.html . With SQLcl you don't need an SQL-net/SQL-home installation.... Watch the video. It has auto-completion, in place editing the buffer, and smart formatting.

[Giuseppe Ricupero]

Thank you, it's a drop-in replacement to sqlplus