How to know sqlplus version from inside sqlplus

Question

I am offered (by some framework) to run commands in sqlplus, but am not launching it myself. I'd like to know the version of that sqlplus running.

Answer 1

Within SQL*Plus, there are some preDEFINEd substitution variable:

SQL> define
DEFINE _DATE           = "23-NOV-13" (CHAR)
DEFINE _CONNECT_IDENTIFIER = "" (CHAR)
DEFINE _USER           = "" (CHAR)
DEFINE _PRIVILEGE      = "" (CHAR)
DEFINE _SQLPLUS_RELEASE = "1102000100" (CHAR)
DEFINE _EDITOR         = "Notepad" (CHAR)

Notice the _SQLPLUS_RELEASE. You reference this in SQLPLUS.

For example, you can do something like:

sqlplus -S /nolog<<EOF
prompt &_SQLPLUS_RELEASE
quit
EOF