How to utilize the utl_file package to generate backups for a specified number of tables based on a date being provided as an input parameter?

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To utilize the utl_file package to generate backups for a specified number of tables based on a date being provided as an input parameter, follow these steps:

1. Create a directory on the database server where you want to store the backup files. You can use the following command to create a directory:

CREATE DIRECTORY backup_dir AS '/path/to/directory';

Replace '/path/to/directory' with the location of the directory on your server.

1. Create a PL/SQL procedure that takes a date as input parameter and generates backups for the specified tables. Here is an example procedure that generates backups for two tables:

CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE generate_backup (backup_date DATE) IS
  v_file_handle utl_file.file_type;
BEGIN
  -- open the backup files for the specified tables
  v_file_handle := utl_file.fopen('backup_dir', 'table1_' || backup_date || '.bak', 'w');
  FOR r IN (SELECT * FROM table1 WHERE date_col = backup_date) LOOP
    utl_file.put_line(v_file_handle, r.col1 || ',' || r.col2 || ',' || r.col3);
  END LOOP;
  utl_file.fclose(v_file_handle);

  v_file_handle := utl_file.fopen('backup_dir', 'table2_' || backup_date || '.bak', 'w');
  FOR r IN (SELECT * FROM table2 WHERE date_col = backup_date) LOOP
    utl_file.put_line(v_file_handle, r.col1 || ',' || r.col2 || ',' || r.col3);
  END LOOP;
  utl_file.fclose(v_file_handle);
END;

Replace 'table1' and 'table2' with the names of the tables you want to backup. Replace 'date_col' with the name of the column in each table that contains the date information.

1. Call the procedure with the desired date parameter to generate the backups. For example:

EXECUTE generate_backup('01-JAN-2022');

This will generate backup files for the specified tables for the date '01-JAN-2022' in the 'backup_dir' directory on the database server.

Note: It is recommended to schedule regular backups for critical data to ensure that data loss is minimized in case of any issues.