Oracle Database Discussions

For example if you have an external table where a column is defined with a CHAR(1) but when you run a SELECT on it, the mapping comes up with trying to put a CHAR(2) into that single space. The only way I'm aware to see if something is wrong is to check the .log file. Is there any other way to check for an error message or count?

I'm mounting external tables and copying data over to a 'holding' table to be able to work on the data before it's moved into the actual production table with PL/SQ code. If the stored proc can determine what rows are bad or missing or even that there just are some rows with problems then hand back to the app, it would greatly improve things.

Thanks.