Directory File List in PL/SQL (Oracle 10g)

UTL_FILE, unfortunately, does not allow you to query the contents of a directory.

If you’re on Oracle 11g you can use the method described here: listing files with the external table preprocessor in 11g.

If you’re on Oracle 10g another option is to create a java routine. Note: this is not my code – a colleague sent the basics to me and I just modified it somewhat to suit my purpose at the time.

CREATE OR REPLACE AND RESOLVE
JAVA SOURCE NAMED "DirectoryLister" AS
import java.io.File;
import java.util.Arrays;
public class DirectoryLister
{
  public static String getFileList(String idir, String sep)
  {
    File aDirectory = new File(idir);
    File[] filesInDir = aDirectory.listFiles();
    String result = "";
    for ( int i=0; i<filesInDir.length; i++ )
    {
        if ( filesInDir[i].isFile()
             && !filesInDir[i].isHidden() )
        {
            result = result + sep + filesInDir[i].getName();
        }
    }
    return result;
  }
};
/

CREATE OR REPLACE
FUNCTION dirlist_csv
(p_dir IN VARCHAR2, p_sep IN VARCHAR2) RETURN VARCHAR2
AS LANGUAGE JAVA NAME
'DirectoryLister.getFileList
  (java.lang.String, java.lang.String)
  return String';
/

BEGIN
  DBMS_JAVA.grant_permission('USER',
    'java.io.FilePermission', '<>', 'read');
  DBMS_JAVA.grant_permission('USER',
    'SYS:java.lang.RuntimePermission',
    'writeFileDescriptor', '');
  DBMS_JAVA.grant_permission('USER',
    'SYS:java.lang.RuntimePermission',
    'readFileDescriptor', '');
END;
/

(replace “USER” in the above commands with the user name)

CREATE OR REPLACE
FUNCTION get_path (dir IN VARCHAR2) RETURN VARCHAR2 IS
  o_path ALL_DIRECTORIES.directory_path%TYPE;
BEGIN
  SELECT directory_path INTO o_path
  FROM ALL_DIRECTORIES d
  WHERE  d.directory_name = dir;
  RETURN o_path;
END get_path;

Sample script:

DECLARE
  csv VARCHAR2(32767);
  filename VARCHAR2(1000);
BEGIN
  csv := dirlist_csv(get_path('MYDIR'), ',');
  LOOP
    EXIT WHEN csv IS NULL;
    filename := SUBSTR(csv, INSTR(csv, ',', -1) + 1);
    dbms_output.put_line(filename);
    csv := SUBSTR(csv, 1, INSTR(csv, ',', -1) - 1);
  END LOOP;
END;
/

Note: If the number of files is expected to be large, it would be better to get the java program to insert the file names into a global temporary table, then query that, instead of returning the list as a CSV string.

Jeffrey Kemp 10 August 2010

java / PL/SQL / tips-&-tricks /

About Jeffrey Kemp

Application Designer & Developer at Oracle specialising in Oracle APEX (Application Express), Oracle SQL and PL/SQL. Oracle ACE Alumni ♠️. Piano player, father, husband, Christian. The views expressed on this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Oracle.