Did a search on google and found this at http://www.experts-exchange.com/Data..._20433300.html
"Host commands are not directly supported in PL\SQL stored procedures. But there are three work-arounds that you can use to do host commands from PL\SQL:
1. external procedures
2. DBMS_PIPE / daemon
3. Java.
All of these are documented in various places in Oracle's documentation. I think the Java approach is the one that Oracle recommends these days and is the one likely to be supported the best going forward.
I have used the DBMS_PIPE / daemon combination to do host commands with various Oracle databases from version 7.3 - 8.1.7. That has worked very well for me. To use that approach you need a C-compiler to compile the source code that Oracle distributes for the "daemon" utility. Then you run that on the server. It opens a connection to your dataabse and waits for commands to be passed to it via DBMS_PIPE. When it receives a command, it executes it in the O/S and returns success/fail to PL\SQL. For more information on this, check your Oracle documentation for PL\SQL Supplied packages: DBMS_PIPE. "
From personal expereince it is easy enough to do it through a sql script in sql plus but if it does have to be a stored procedure so you can run it as a database job then one of the workarounds listed will have to be considered.
Hope this is of some help to you. I was sure I'd read it could be done - guess I just thought I had!.....
Mark
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Mark Backhouse
Oracle Database Administrator
Great North Eastern Railways
York
UK
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