Oracle® Database SQL Reference 10g Release 2 (10.2) Part Number B14200-01 |
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For each row in the database, the ROWID
pseudocolumn returns the address of the row. Oracle Database rowid values contain information necessary to locate a row:
The data object number of the object
The data block in the datafile in which the row resides
The position of the row in the data block (first row is 0)
The datafile in which the row resides (first file is 1). The file number is relative to the tablespace.
Usually, a rowid value uniquely identifies a row in the database. However, rows in different tables that are stored together in the same cluster can have the same rowid.
Values of the ROWID
pseudocolumn have the datatype ROWID
or UROWID
. Please refer to "ROWID Datatype" and "UROWID Datatype" for more information.
Rowid values have several important uses:
They are the fastest way to access a single row.
They can show you how the rows in a table are stored.
They are unique identifiers for rows in a table.
You should not use ROWID
as the primary key of a table. If you delete and reinsert a row with the Import and Export utilities, for example, then its rowid may change. If you delete a row, then Oracle may reassign its rowid to a new row inserted later.
Although you can use the ROWID
pseudocolumn in the SELECT
and WHERE
clause of a query, these pseudocolumn values are not actually stored in the database. You cannot insert, update, or delete a value of the ROWID
pseudocolumn.
Example This statement selects the address of all rows that contain data for employees in department 20:
SELECT ROWID, last_name FROM employees WHERE department_id = 20;