Unable to load data using external table - oracle

Question

I'm trying to load data in an external table from a csv file.
Following is my fragment:
create table emp_ext
(
eid number,ename char(9)
)
organization external
(
TYPE ORACLE_LOADER
DEFAULT DIRECTORY test
ACCESS PARAMETERS
(
RECORDS DELIMITED BY NEWLINE
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ','
(
eid number,
ename char(9)
)
)
LOCATION('C:\Users\99002971\Desktop\empf.csv')
)
create directory test as 'C:\Users\99002971\Desktop'
grant read on directory test to matuat35 // granted using another user
When i do select * from emp_ext , i get following errors:
ORA-29913:Error in executing ODCIEXTTABLEOPEN callout
ORA-29400:data cartridge error
KUP-00554:error encountered while parsing access parameters
KUP-01005:syntax error:found ""identifier:expecting one of :"binary_float,binary_double,comma,char,date,double"
KUP-01008:the bad identifier was double
KUP-01007:at line 4 column 12
Please help

Answer 1

The datatype_spec section of the external table documenation shows that number isn't recognised by the loader driver. In your code that is being seen as an identifier rather than a data type, hence the error.
You can use oracle_number, or unsigned integer since it's presumably always going to be a positive integer for an employee ID; or leave it untyped and allow implicit conversion to the table column type.
Your location should also only specify the file name within the directory, not the full path:
create table emp_ext
(
eid number,ename varchar2(15)
)
organization external
(
TYPE ORACLE_LOADER
DEFAULT DIRECTORY test
ACCESS PARAMETERS
(
RECORDS DELIMITED BY NEWLINE
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ','
(
eid unsigned integer external(9),
ename char(15)
)
)
LOCATION('empf.csv')
)
Or more simply, but relying on implicit conversion:
...
ACCESS PARAMETERS
(
RECORDS DELIMITED BY NEWLINE
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ','
(
eid,
ename char(15) rteim
)
)
LOCATION('empf.csv')
)