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I'm really confused with the terms database, user and schema. Can anyone explain how they are different from each other (if they are)?

If they are same then, what are the similarities between them? How do we use them? And how do we create them?

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some doubt cleared, but not all,i got little idea about the user and schema, but what about database ?? I mean, how do we create them and how do they differ from other (user and schema) – jWeaver Mar 19 at 14:34

3 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

In Oracle, users and schemas are essentially the same thing. You can consider that a user is the account you use to connect to a database, and a schema is the set of objects (tables, views, etc.) that belong to that account.

See this post on Stack Overflow: difference between a User and a Schema in Oracle? for more details and extra links.

You create users with the create user statement. This also "creates" the schema (initially empty) - you cannot create a schema as such, it is tied to the user. Once the user is created, an administrator can grant privileges to the user, which will enable it to create tables, execute select queries, insert, and everything else.

The database is the thing contains all the users you've created, and their data (and a bunch of predefined system users, tables, views, etc. that make the whole thing work). You should look at the Oracle Database Architecture documentation in the Concepts Guide (actually, that whole page is worth a read - there's a section about users and schemas higher up in that page) to get an introduction to what a database is, and what a database instance is - two important concepts.

You can create a database with the create database statement (see also here), once you've installed the Oracle software stack. But using dbca (database creation assistant) is easier to get started.

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even i didn't read whole things, but,it seems helpful specially that diagram. Thanks !! I will accept your answer, once, i'm done. – jWeaver Mar 19 at 16:26
up vote 0 down vote

I am telling you according to concepts not based on any type of database management system you are using.

Conceptually: Database : is Just a pile of data, mostly un-managed related or unrelated data.

Schema: Schema refers to formally structuring the unmanaged related/unrelated data so that it can be managed by some management system which understands the formal definition provided by the schema. Schema is basically a scheme to to provide overview. For example you have XSD which defines the scheme/schema to create XML. You have RDBMS which defines its own schemes which are based on Codd Rules which basically defines schemes to create RDBMS.

Now if you want to know more about is refer this Link.

User's use the formal language specified by the scheme/schema to access the Database

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up vote -1 down vote

User!= Schema , User and Schema are not same but they are used interchangeably

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