Question

Oracle SQL*Plus interprets the at sign, @ as a command to run a SQL script.

I have a .sql script which contains the @ character in comments, such as:

create or replace package mypkg
as

  /*
    Procedure foo

    @param bar blah blah blah
  */
  procedure foo(bar varchar2);

end mypkg;
/

How can I disable processing of the at sign? I am already using SET DEFINE OFF and SET SQLPREFIX OFF to disable unwanted processing of metacharacters.

Answer 1

I have used this commenting notation for years so I was surprised this was an issue.
I make use of the package “pldoc” http://sourceforge.net/projects/pldoc/?source=directory to generate documentation. The standard way of commenting is like this (like javadoc):

create or replace package mypkg
as

  /**
  * Procedure foo
  * 
  * @param bar blah blah blah
  */
  procedure foo(bar varchar2);

end mypkg;
/

me@XE> @mypkg.sql

Package created.