Conventions Used in this tutorial

The following conventions are used in this tutorial:

• Italic
• is used for file and directory names.
• Constant width
• is used for code examples.
• Constant width bold
• In some code examples, highlights the statements being discussed.
• Constant width italic
• In some code examples, indicates an element (e.g., a filename) that you supply.
• UPPERCASE
• In code examples, indicates PL/SQL keywords.
• lowercase
• In code examples, indicates user-defined items such as variables, parameters, etc.
• punctuation
• In code examples, enter exactly as shown.
• indentation
• In code examples, helps to show structure but is not required.
• --
• In code examples, a double hyphen begins a single-line comment, which extends to the end of a line.
• /* and */
• In code examples, these characters delimit a multiline comment, which can extend from one line to another.
• .
• In code examples and related discussions, a dot qualifies a reference by separating an object name from a component name. For example, dot notation is used to select fields in a record and to specify declarations within a package.
• < >
• In syntax descriptions, angle brackets enclose the name of a syntactic element.
• [ ]
• In syntax descriptions, square brackets enclose optional items.
• ...
• In syntax descriptions, an ellipsis shows that statements or clauses irrelevant to the discussion were left out.