Using the OCI8 Function Library

The OCI8 function library contains a library function to connect to, transact against, and disconnect from the Oracle database server. It also includes libraries for working with collections and Large Objects (LOBs). The preceding section demonstrated the utility of the three connection functions and one disconnection function. This section will discuss the balance of OCI8 functions, excluding the OCI-Collection and OCI-LOB methods, which are addressed in Chapters 14 and 15 respectively.

Table 13-3 contains a list of OCI8 functions that let you work with SQL and PL/SQL. These new Oracle OCI8 functions only work in a combination of Oracle Database 10g and PHP 5.1.2 or newer. Backward-compatible aliases are provided for those who are migrating from older releases and listed in italics beneath the new function names in Table 13-3.