Question

Does anybody know the values that are given in the table_privileges? I already found out what “A” means. But I did not find out for what the “S” stands for. I think this isnt documented. It has something to do with update privileges on particular columns.

Answer 1

The thing you are missing is that we can grant UPDATE on a subset of a table’s columns.

First of all, let’s just grant SELECT on a table. The value of UPDATE_PRIV is ‘N’, for None:

SQL> grant select on t23 to mr_x;

Grant succeeded.


SQL> select select_priv, update_priv 
  2  from table_privileges
  3  where table_name = 'T23'
  4  /

S U
- -
Y N

SQL>

Now, if I grant UPDATE on a single column the value of UPDATE_PRIV is ‘S’, presumably for Some:

SQL> grant update (col2) on t23 to mr_x
  2  /

Grant succeeded.

SQL> select select_priv, update_priv 
  2  from table_privileges
  3  where table_name = 'T23'
  4  /

S U
- -
Y S

SQL>

Finally, I grant UPDATE on the whole table the value of UPDATE_PRIV is ‘A’, for All:

SQL> grant update  on t23 to mr_x
  2  /

Grant succeeded.

SQL> select select_priv, update_priv 
  2  from table_privileges
  3  where table_name = 'T23'
  4  /

S U
- -
Y A

SQL>