Query for command prompt in Aspen SQLPlus

Question

How do you access the command prompt using Aspen SQLPlus? I have tried using Host Dir, but does not seem to work.

Answer 1

You need to use the SYSTEM command. This is covered quite well within the Aspen SQLPlus help menu.

E.g.

SYSTEM ('DIR'); 
SYSTEM ('DIR C:\WINDOWS\'); 
SYSTEM ('ROBOCOPY C:\SCRATCH\ C:\USERS\JOHN\DESKTOP\ TEST.TXT');
SYSTEM ('HOSTNAME');
SYSTEM ('WHOAMI');

Will print the results to screen.

Alternatively, you can format the results as a table:

select line, linenum from SYSTEM ('DIR');

It is also possible to interact with the results, within a for loop:

for (select linenum ilinenum, line iline from SYSTEM ('DIR'))
do
   write ilinenum || chr(9) || iline;
end

A few things to note:

• No interaction is possible, e.g. if you attempt to COPY a file and are prompted if you want to overwrite Y/N, this will get stuck.

• The IP21 Service Account will always execute the command, regardless of the user who executes the SQLPlus query.

• If you wish to execute multiple commands, you will need to load a batch file