To expand on Jim's tests...
(Are double quotes definitely not allowed in 9i?)


SQL*Plus: Release 9.2.0.1.0 - Production on Fri Jan 14 13:56:32 2005

Copyright (c) 1982, 2002, Oracle Corporation.  All rights reserved.


Connected to:
Oracle9i Enterprise Edition Release 9.2.0.1.0 - Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP and Oracle Data Mining options
JServer Release 9.2.0.1.0 - Production

SQL> connect system@bev1
Connected.
SQL> 
SQL> -- create user to test with
SQL> create user testme identified by password;

User created.

SQL> grant create session to testme;

Grant succeeded.

SQL> 
SQL> 
SQL> ----------------
SQL> -- characters: $_#
SQL> -- quote when creating password: optional
SQL> -- quote when connecting: optional
SQL> 
SQL> alter user testme identified by P$_#word;

User altered.

SQL> connect testme/P$_#word@bev1
Connected.
SQL> ----------------
SQL> 
SQL> ----------------
SQL> -- characters: `~!%^*()+-={}|[]\:;'<>?,.
SQL> -- quote when creating password: required
SQL> -- quote when connecting: optional
SQL> 
SQL> connect system@bev1
Connected.
SQL> alter user testme identified by "P`~!%^*()+-={}|[]\:;'<>?,.d";

User altered.

SQL> connect testme/P`~!%^*()+-={}|[]\:;'<>?,.d@bev1
Connected.
SQL> ----------------
SQL> 
SQL> ----------------
SQL> -- character: @
SQL> -- quote when creating password: required
SQL> -- quote when connecting: required
SQL> connect system@bev1
Connected.
SQL> alter user testme identified by "P@ssword";

User altered.

SQL> connect testme/"P@ssword"@bev1
Connected.
SQL> ----------------
SQL> 
SQL> ----------------
SQL> -- character: &
SQL> -- quote when creating password: required AND must set define off before creating
SQL> -- quote when connecting: optional BUT must set define off before connecting
SQL> 
SQL> connect system@bev1
Connected.
SQL> set define off
SQL> alter user testme identified by "P&ssword";

User altered.

SQL> connect testme/P&ssword@bev1
Connected.
SQL> set define on
SQL> ----------------
SQL> 
SQL> ----------------
SQL> -- character: "
SQL> -- quote when creating password: 
SQL>    -- 8i: required AND must escape
SQL>    -- 9i: double quotes not allowed in password? ORA-03001: unimplemented feature error
SQL> -- quote when connecting: 
SQL>    -- 8i: not allowed! not even if you escape. must connect unquoted
SQL>    -- 9i: (N/A - double quotes not allowed in password?)
SQL>    
SQL> 
SQL> connect system@bev1
Connected.
SQL> alter user testme identified by "P""ssword";
alter user testme identified by "P""ssword"
                                *
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-03001: unimplemented feature


SQL> connect testme/P"ssword@bev1
ERROR:
ORA-01017: invalid username; logon denied


Warning: You are no longer connected to ORACLE.
SQL> ----------------
SQL> 
SQL> 
SQL> 
SQL> connect system@bev1
Connected.
SQL> drop user testme;

User dropped.
 

Just to throw a spanner in the works, I managed to get a double quotation mark into a password in 9.2.0.6. Here's how:


SQL*Plus: Release 9.2.0.6.0 - Production on Wed Jan 26 16:48:03 2005

Copyright (c) 1982, 2002, Oracle Corporation.  All rights reserved.

Enter user-name: sys@abc as sysdba
Enter password:

Connected to:
Oracle9i Enterprise Edition Release 9.2.0.6.0 - 64bit Production
JServer Release 9.2.0.6.0 - Production

SQL> create user blah identified by blah;

User created.

SQL> grant create session to blah;

Grant succeeded.

SQL> conn blah/blah@abc
Connected.
SQL> password
Changing password for BLAH
Old password:
New password:        <-- type b"lah at this prompt
Retype new password: <-- type b"lah at this prompt
Password changed
SQL> disc
Disconnected from Oracle9i Enterprise Edition Release 9.2.0.6.0 - 64bit Production
JServer Release 9.2.0.6.0 - Production
SQL> conn blah/b"lah@abc
Connected.
SQL>


I'm not advocating it's use here. I just thought I'd demonstrate that it appears to be possible.

Any comments? 

I inserted a "£" character in a string field, but when I query , it shows up as an "#". How can I get the "£" displayed correctly?. 



SQL> insert into tst1 values('£ - POUND SIGN');

1 row created.

SQL> select * from tst1
  2  ;

TXT1
--------------------------------
# - POUND SIGN

 

Why am I able to issued:

SQL> create user test identified by "1test";
User created.

grant connect to  test ;
Grant succeeded.

SQL> connect test/1test
Connected. 

SQL> begin
  2  /* start program
  3  ####
SP2-0042: unknown command "###" - rest of line ignored.
  3  */
  4  null;
  5  end;
  6  /

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

I logged in with SQL*plus and changed my password to something with a @
How can I now start SQL*plus with the new password?

--------------------

The only way I could find was by logging in with a different account [with no @ in the password] and then, once "in" SQL*plus, issuing
SQL>CONNECT user/"pass"

[what I mean to say is that when I tried using "" around my password on the shell command to start sqlplus

C:\>sqlplus user/"pass"@database

it did NOT stop sqlplus finding the @ in my password & assuming the database name was immediately after it.

And I could not find a way to start SQL*plus in a "disconnected" state

And I could not find a way to give just the database name to SQL*plus, so it would prompt for user & password instead of parsing them from command line]

Is there any way other than using another account [either on the same or a different database,] or some other standard tool besides SQL*plus for changing passwords?

Thanks in advance!