How do I spool to a CSV formatted file using SQLPLUS?

Question

You could also use the following, although it does introduce spaces between fields.

set colsep ,     -- separate columns with a comma
set pagesize 0   -- No header rows
set trimspool on -- remove trailing blanks
set headsep off  -- this may or may not be useful...depends on your headings.
set linesize X   -- X should be the sum of the column widths
set numw X       -- X should be the length you want for numbers (avoid scientific notation on IDs)

spool myfile.csv

select table_name, tablespace_name 
  from all_tables
 where owner = 'SYS'
   and tablespace_name is not null;

Output will be like:

    TABLE_PRIVILEGE_MAP           ,SYSTEM                        
    SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE_MAP          ,SYSTEM                        
    STMT_AUDIT_OPTION_MAP         ,SYSTEM                        
    DUAL                          ,SYSTEM 
...

This would be a lot less tedious than typing out all of the fields and concatenating them with the commas. You could follow up with a simple sed script to remove whitespace that appears before a comma, if you wanted.

Something like this might work...(my sed skills are very rusty, so this will likely need work)

sed 's/\s+,/,/' myfile.csv 

If you are using 12.2, you can simply say

set markup csv on
spool myfile.csv

I use this command for scripts which extracts data for dimensional tables (DW). So, I use the following syntax:

set colsep '|'
set echo off
set feedback off
set linesize 1000
set pagesize 0
set sqlprompt ''
set trimspool on
set headsep off

spool output.dat

select '|', <table>.*, '|'
  from <table>
where <conditions>

spool off

And works. I don't use sed for format the output file.

I see a similar problem...

I need to spool CSV file from SQLPLUS, but the output has 250 columns.

What I did to avoid annoying SQLPLUS output formatting:

set linesize 9999
set pagesize 50000
spool myfile.csv
select x
from
(
select col1||';'||col2||';'||col3||';'||col4||';'||col5||';'||col6||';'||col7||';'||col8||';'||col9||';'||col10||';'||col11||';'||col12||';'||col13||';'||col14||';'||col15||';'||col16||';'||col17||';'||col18||';'||col19||';'||col20||';'||col21||';'||col22||';'||col23||';'||col24||';'||col25||';'||col26||';'||col27||';'||col28||';'||col29||';'||col30 as x
from (  
      ...  here is the "core" select
     )
);
spool off

the problem is you will lose column header names...

you can add this:

set heading off
spool myfile.csv
select col1_name||';'||col2_name||';'||col3_name||';'||col4_name||';'||col5_name||';'||col6_name||';'||col7_name||';'||col8_name||';'||col9_name||';'||col10_name||';'||col11_name||';'||col12_name||';'||col13_name||';'||col14_name||';'||col15_name||';'||col16_name||';'||col17_name||';'||col18_name||';'||col19_name||';'||col20_name||';'||col21_name||';'||col22_name||';'||col23_name||';'||col24_name||';'||col25_name||';'||col26_name||';'||col27_name||';'||col28_name||';'||col29_name||';'||col30_name from dual;

select x
from
(
select col1||';'||col2||';'||col3||';'||col4||';'||col5||';'||col6||';'||col7||';'||col8||';'||col9||';'||col10||';'||col11||';'||col12||';'||col13||';'||col14||';'||col15||';'||col16||';'||col17||';'||col18||';'||col19||';'||col20||';'||col21||';'||col22||';'||col23||';'||col24||';'||col25||';'||col26||';'||col27||';'||col28||';'||col29||';'||col30 as x
from (  
      ...  here is the "core" select
     )
);
spool off

I know it`s kinda hardcore, but it works for me...

With newer versions of client tools, there are multiple options to format the query output. The rest is to spool it to a file or save the output as a file depending on the client tool. Here are few of the ways:

• SQL*Plus

Using the SQL*Plus commands you could format to get your desired output. Use SPOOL to spool the output to a file.

For example,

SQL> SET colsep ,
SQL> SET pagesize 20
SQL> SET trimspool ON
SQL> SET linesize 200
SQL> SELECT * FROM scott.emp;

     EMPNO,ENAME     ,JOB      ,       MGR,HIREDATE ,       SAL,      COMM,    DEPTNO
----------,----------,---------,----------,---------,----------,----------,----------
      7369,SMITH     ,CLERK    ,      7902,17-DEC-80,       800,          ,        20
      7499,ALLEN     ,SALESMAN ,      7698,20-FEB-81,      1600,       300,        30
      7521,WARD      ,SALESMAN ,      7698,22-FEB-81,      1250,       500,        30
      7566,JONES     ,MANAGER  ,      7839,02-APR-81,      2975,          ,        20
      7654,MARTIN    ,SALESMAN ,      7698,28-SEP-81,      1250,      1400,        30
      7698,BLAKE     ,MANAGER  ,      7839,01-MAY-81,      2850,          ,        30
      7782,CLARK     ,MANAGER  ,      7839,09-JUN-81,      2450,          ,        10
      7788,SCOTT     ,ANALYST  ,      7566,09-DEC-82,      3000,          ,        20
      7839,KING      ,PRESIDENT,          ,17-NOV-81,      5000,          ,        10
      7844,TURNER    ,SALESMAN ,      7698,08-SEP-81,      1500,          ,        30
      7876,ADAMS     ,CLERK    ,      7788,12-JAN-83,      1100,          ,        20
      7900,JAMES     ,CLERK    ,      7698,03-DEC-81,       950,          ,        30
      7902,FORD      ,ANALYST  ,      7566,03-DEC-81,      3000,          ,        20
      7934,MILLER    ,CLERK    ,      7782,23-JAN-82,      1300,          ,        10

14 rows selected.

SQL>

• SQL Developer Version pre 4.1

Alternatively, you could use the new /*csv*/ hint in SQL Developer.

/*csv*/

For example, in my SQL Developer Version 3.2.20.10:

Now you could save the output into a file.

• SQL Developer Version 4.1

New in SQL Developer version 4.1, use the following just like sqlplus command and run as script. No need of the hint in the query.

SET SQLFORMAT csv

Now you could save the output into a file.

I know this is an old thread, however I noticed that no one mentioned the underline option, which can remove the underlines under the column headings.

set pagesize 50000--50k is the max as of 12c
set linesize 10000   
set trimspool on  --remove trailing blankspaces
set underline off --remove the dashes/underlines under the col headers
set colsep ~

select * from DW_TMC_PROJECT_VW;