RelationalDBDesign
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Lesson 10
Objective
Freespace in the data dictionary
Learn about freespace parameters from the data dictionary.
   
As with all other attributes of database objects, you can find out more about the way your tables and indexes work with free space through several data dictionary views.
Database objects
The USER_TABLES and USER_INDEXES data dictionary views have columns that store the values for the storage parameters that apply to the amount of free space in their particular objects. The USER_TABLES view contains columns for PCT_FREE and PCT_USED, while the USER_INDEXES view only has a column for the PCT_FREE value.
Freelists
Freelists are lists of free data blocks for a database table or index. The USER_SEGMENTS view has information about the number of freelists allocated to a segment for an object, while the USER_TABLES and USER_INDEXES views have information about the number of freelists allocated to their particular objects.
The USER_TABLES and USER_INDEXES views also have columns for the NUM_FREELIST_BLOCKS, which give the number of blocks on the freelist for the object, and the AVG_SPACE_FREELIST_BLOCKS, which give the average amount of space for each of the freelist blocks.
Free Diction Quiz
Click the Quiz link below to answer a few questions about free space.
Free Diction Quiz
The next lesson is about the perils of fragmentation of extents within a tablespace.
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