-- this is a single-line comment in SQL /* this is a multi-line comment in SQL */ -- spool is a SQL*Plus command that asks for every result of a SQL script -- to be written to the file named as well as to the screen spool looky.txt select 3*4 from dual; select 10/2 from dual; -- here is our first table (drop and) creation! drop table stuff; create table stuff (name_id integer, name varchar2(15), quantity integer, primary key(name_id) ); -- here is our first insert into a table! insert into stuff values (1, 'doohicky', 27); insert into stuff values (2, 'watchamacallit', 13); -- THE simplest select/query statement: -- select * -- from desired_tbl; -- this shows all the columns for all the rows in desired_tbl select * from stuff; -- when you want to stop writing, turn off spooling with spool off spool off