Oracle SQL Reserved Words

This section lists Oracle SQL reserved words. You cannot use Oracle SQL reserved words as nonquoted identifiers. Quoted identifiers can be reserved words, although this is not recommended.

Note:

In addition to the following reserved words, Oracle uses system-generated names beginning with "SYS_" for implicitly generated schema objects and subobjects. Oracle discourages you from using this prefix in the names you explicitly provide to your schema objects and subobjects to avoid possible conflict in name resolution.

The V$RESERVED_WORDS data dictionary view provides additional information on each reserved word, including whether it is always reserved or is reserved only for particular uses. Refer to Oracle Database Reference for more information.

Words followed by an asterisk (*) are also ANSI reserved words.

ACCESS
ADD
ALL *
ALTER *
AND *
ANY *
AS *
ASC
AUDIT
BETWEEN *
BY *
CHAR *
CHECK *
CLUSTER
COLUMN *
COLUMN_VALUE (See Note 1 at the end of this list)
COMMENT
COMPRESS
CONNECT *
CREATE *
CURRENT *
DATE *
DECIMAL *
DEFAULT *
DELETE *
DESC
DISTINCT *
DROP *
ELSE *
EXCLUSIVE
EXISTS *
FILE
FLOAT *
FOR *
FROM *
GRANT *
GROUP *
HAVING *
IDENTIFIED
IMMEDIATE
IN *
INCREMENT
INDEX
INITIAL
INSERT *
INTEGER *
INTERSECT *
INTO *
IS *
LEVEL
LIKE *
LOCK
LONG
MAXEXTENTS
MINUS
MLSLABEL
MODE
MODIFY
NESTED_TABLE_ID (See Note 1 at the end of this list)
NOAUDIT
NOCOMPRESS
NOT *
NOWAIT
NULL *
NUMBER
OF *
OFFLINE
ON *
ONLINE
OPTION
OR *
ORDER *
PCTFREE
PRIOR
PUBLIC
RAW
RENAME
RESOURCE
REVOKE *
ROW *
ROWID (See Note 2 at the end of this list)
ROWNUM
ROWS *
SELECT *
SESSION
SET *
SHARE
SIZE
SMALLINT *
START *
SUCCESSFUL
SYNONYM
SYSDATE
TABLE *
THEN *
TO *
TRIGGER *
UID
UNION *
UNIQUE *
UPDATE *
USER *
VALIDATE
VALUES *
VARCHAR *
VARCHAR2
VIEW
WHENEVER *
WHERE *
WITH *

Note 1: This keyword is only reserved for use as an attribute name.

Note 2: You cannot use the uppercase word ROWID, either quoted or nonquoted, as a column name. However, you can use the uppercase word as a quoted identifier that is not a column name, and you can use the word with one or more lowercase letters (for example, "Rowid" or "rowid") as any quoted identifier, including a column name.