A simple way to export data from a query, table, etc.. of an oracle database to a flat file is to use the SPOOL command in SQLPlus. This would not need to rely on visual aids, which are not always available or do not always work as we want. Also you can use the Oracle format functions in the same SELECT statement that generated the data already in the format we need.
If, for example, we want to retrieve some data from all records in a table of customers sorted by date of discharge, simply open a SQLPlus session and run this series of commands:
SQL> SET HEADING OFF
SQL> SET FEEDBACK OFF
SQL> SPOOL C:\datos_de_clientes.txt
SQL> SELECT 'Cliente ' || CLI_NOMBRE || ', ' || CLI_NIF || '. Fecha alta: ' || TO_CHAR(CLI_FECHAALTA,'YYYY-MM-DD')
FROM TABLA_CLIENTES
ORDER BY CLI_FECHAALTA DESC;
SQL> SPOOL OFF;
SQL> SET FEEDBACK ON
SQL> SET HEADING ON
The first lines hide the headers that contain the field name, and do not concern us because we only want the data. Spool directs the output of data to the file 'datos_de_clientes.txt' on the C drive on the local machine.
This technique can also be used for necessities such as more sophisticated dynamic construction of scripts from the metadata available to us in our BD.
