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 searc

Answer 1

I just use socat to add readline support to sqlplus. History and a working backspace key actually turn sqlplus into a pretty decent tool.

In my .bashrc:

function sqlplus {
        socat READLINE,history=$HOME/.sqlplus_history EXEC:"$ORACLE_HOME/bin/sqlplus $(echo $@ | sed 's/\([\:]\)/\\\1/g')",pty,setsid,ctty
        status=$?
}

You might see alternatives that alias sqlplus to socat, but you will quickly discover that doing so prevents you from invoking sqlplus with its various command line options.

CAVEAT: Be sure to set $HOME/.sqlplus_history permissions to 0600. Passwords that you type end up in the history file. You might also consider adding cat /dev/null > $HOME/.sqlplus_history to your .bash_logout.