Shell Programming and Scripting

can anyone tel me the logic behind the foll kind of blocks....the ones we use when v embed sql queries qithin shell script...

for example...

<path> sqlplus << A
.............................
.............................
SQL statements
.............................
................................
B

i have noticed that the above block works for any value of A and B...

also A may not necessarily equal B

can anyone kindly provide me with a conceoptual answer as to why do v need to do this and what is the significance behind this...

i mean how does it atually work...?

thanks...........

The block is called a "here document" It's simply a document or block of text that gets utilized by some utility. In sqlplus' case, it's a script. As for "A" vs "B" markers, check your script. The ending block marker is the same as the beginning block marker. If you're trying this in a script without any other commands following the ending block marker then it will seem like it doesn't matter because of the script end-of-file marker. Try adding more lines to your script.

hi...thanks a lot....
will try it using diff end and beginning markers.....