SQL*Plus has traditionally been thought of as a plain text SQL query tool. But since Oracle 8i, it has also had the capability to render its output using HTML.
One of SQL*Plus's environment settings, MARKUP, controls what kind of mark-up language (if any) to use for its output. By default, MARKUP defines HTML as the mark-up language, but mark-up itself is turned off. A set of HTML tags is predefined; all you have to do is turn mark-up on by typing:
SET MARKUP HTML ON
and the tags will be added to each output produced by SQL*Plus. For example, after activating the feature as above, you could type the following:
SPOOL deptlist.html
SELECT * FROM departments;
SPOOL OFF
and the result would be formatted as an HTML table ready to add to an intranet or other Web page. To create a complete HTML document, including the <HTML> and </HTML> tags and a CSS style sheet, type:
SET MARKUP HTML ON SPOOL ONTo turn the feature off again or exit the session, type:
SET MARKUP HTML OFFor
SET MARKUP HTML OFF SPOOL OFFIf you don't like the way that SQL*Plus formats the output, no problem. You can also use the SET MARKUP command to replace the built-in formatting codes with your own. The HEAD, BODY, TABLE, and other options let you specify the HTML to generate.
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