title: SQL loader position
body: <p>New to SQL loader and am a bit confused about the <code>POSITION</code>.
  Let's use the following sample data as reference:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Munising  49862 MI
  Shingleton49884 MI
  Seney     49883 MI
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>And here is the <code>load</code> statement:</p>
  
  <pre><code>LOAD DATA
     INFILE 'zipcodes.dat'
     REPLACE INTO TABLE zipcodes (
        city_name POSITION(1) CHAR(10),
        zip_code POSITION(*) CHAR(5),
        state_abbr POSITION(*+1) CHAR(2)
        )
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>In the load statement, the <code>city_name</code> POSITION is 1. How does SQLLDR know where it ends? Is CHAR(10) the trick here? Counting the two spaces behind 'Munising', it has 10 characters. </p>
  
  <p>Also why is <code>zip_code</code> assigned with CHAR even though it contains nothing but numbers?</p>
  
  <p>Thank You</p>