SQL & PL/SQL

When I run my sql*plus script with TRIMSPOOL set to OFF then I get output to the spool file as expected (with lots of trailing spaces).

If I set TRIMSPOOL to ON (in the hope of trimming all those redundant spaces) I get no spool output at all.

I can't find any relevant documentation about this behaviour -any suggestions would be gratefully received.

I'm running Oracle 8i Enterprise v8.1.7.2.0 on Solaris.

Code follows:

-------------
clear breaks
clear computes
set linesize 1024
set pagesize 0
set feedback off
set heading off
set headsep off
set newpage none
set recsep off
set trimout on
set trimspool off
set wrap off
spool test.txt
SELECT rtrim(users.batch_uid) || '|' || rtrim(users.user_id) || '|' || rtrim(users.firstname) || '|' || rtrim(users.lastname) || '|' || rtrim(users.email) || '|' || 'student' data
FROM bb50.users
WHERE row_status=0;
-------------

All I need to do is to change that "off" to "on" and all the spool output disappears.
bye

ian