Comments make applications easier to read and maintain. For example, you can create a comment in a statement to describe the purpose of the statement in an application. Only hints in SQL statements affect how the statements are executed. The other comments in SQL statements do not affect how the statements are affected.
You can add a comment between keywords, parameters, or punctuations in a statement. You can use two methods to add a comment:
Add a comment that starts with a slash and an asterisk (/*). The text of the comment follows the slash and the asterisk (/*). The text can be distributed across multiple lines. The comment must end with an asterisk and a slash (*/). You do not need to use white-space characters or line feeds to separate the start and end symbols from the text.
Add a comment that starts with two hyphens (--). The text of the comment follows the hyphens (--). The text can be distributed in only one line. The comment must end with a line feed.
An SQL statement can contain multiple comments of the preceding two styles. The comment text can contain all of the printable characters in your database character set.
The following example is used to demonstrate multiple forms of comments, each of which starts with a slash and an asterisk (/*):
SELECT last_name, employee_id, salary + NVL(commission_pct, 0),
job_id, e.department_id
/* Select all employees whose compensation is
greater than that of Pataballa. */
FROM employees e, departments d
/*The DEPARTMENTS table is used to get the department name. */
WHERE e.department_id = d.department_id
AND salary + NVL(commission_pct,0) > /* Subquery: */
(SELECT salary + NVL(commission_pct,0)
/* total compensation is salary + commission_pct */
FROM employees
WHERE last_name = 'Pataballa')
ORDER BY last_name, employee_id;
The statement in the following example contains multiple forms of comments, each of which starts with two hyphens (--):
SELECT last_name, -- select the name
employee_id -- employee id
salary + NVL(commission_pct, 0), -- total compensation
job_id, -- job
e.department_id -- and department
FROM employees e, -- of all employees
departments d
WHERE e.department_id = d.department_id
AND salary + NVL(commission_pct, 0) > -- whose compensation
-- is greater than
(SELECT salary + NVL(commission_pct,0) -- the compensation
FROM employees
WHERE last_name = 'Pataballa') -- of Pataballa
ORDER BY last_name -- and order by last name
employee_id -- and employee id.
;