转一个SYS_CONNECT_BY_PATH 函数的例子。推断原表应该是这样：
Child Parent
-------------------------------------------------
Asia <null>
China Asia
Beijing China
Japan Asia
Osaka Japan
Tokyo Japan
Australia <null>
New South Wales Australia
Sydney New South Wales
Europe <null>
United Kingdom Europe
England United Kingdom
London England
North America <null>
Canada North America
Ontario Canada
Ottawa Ontario
Toronto Ontario
USA North America
California USA
Redwood Shores California
--===============================================================================
SYS_CONNECT_BY_PATH 函数
自从Since Oracle 9i 开始，就可以通过 SYS_CONNECT_BY_PATH 函数实现将从父节点到当前行内容以“path”或者层次元素列表的形式显示出来。 如下例所示：
column path format a50
select level,sys_connect_by_path(child,"/") path
from hier
start with parent is null
connect by prior child = parent;
LEVEL PATH
-------- --------------------------------------------
1 /Asia
2 /Asia/China
3 /Asia/China/Beijing
2 /Asia/Japan
3 /Asia/Japan/Osaka
3 /Asia/Japan/Tokyo
1 /Australia
2 /Australia/New South Wales
3 /Australia/New South Wales/Sydney
1 /Europe
2 /Europe/United Kingdom
3 /Europe/United Kingdom/England
4 /Europe/United Kingdom/England/London
1 /North America
2 /North America/Canada
3 /North America/Canada/Ontario
4 /North America/Canada/Ontario/Ottawa
4 /North America/Canada/Ontario/Toronto
2 /North America/USA
3 /North America/USA/California
4 /North America/USA/California/Redwood Shores
CONNECT_BY_ISLEAF伪列
在 Oracle 10g 中，还有其他更多关于层次查询的新特性 。例如，有的时候用户更关心的是每个层次分支中等级最低的内容。那么你就可以利用伪列函数CONNECT_BY_ISLEAF来判断当前行是不是叶子。如果是叶子就会在伪列中显示“1”，如果不是叶子而是一个分支（例如当前内容是其他行的父亲）就显示“0”。下给出了一个关于这个函数使用的例子：
select connect_by_isleaf,sys_connect_by_path(child,"/") path
from hier
start with parent is null
connect by prior child = parent;
CONNECT_BY_ISLEAF PATH
---------------------------------- ------------
0 /Asia
0 /Asia/China
1 /Asia/China/Beijing
0 /Asia/Japan
1 /Asia/Japan/Osaka
1 /Asia/Japan/Tokyo
0 /Australia
0 /Australia/New South Wales
1 /Australia/New South Wales/Sydney
0 /Europe
0 /Europe/United Kingdom
0 /Europe/United Kingdom/England
1 /Europe/United Kingdom/England/London
0 /North America
0 /North America/Canada
0 /North America/Canada/Ontario
1 /North America/Canada/Ontario/Ottawa
1 /North America/Canada/Ontario/Toronto
0 /North America/USA
0 /North America/USA/California
1 /North America/USA/California/Redwood Shores
CONNECT_BY_ROOT伪列
在Oracle 10g 中还有一个新操作——CONNECT_BY_ROOT。 它用在列名之前用于返回当前层的根节点。如下面的例子，我可以显示出层次结构表中当前行数据所对应的最高等级节点的内容。
select connect_by_root ,sys_connect_by_path(child,"/") path
from hier
start with parent is null
connect by prior child = parent;
CONNECT_BY_ROOT PATH
------------------------------ --------
Asia /Asia
Asia /Asia/China
Asia /Asia/China/Beijing
Asia /Asia/Japan
Asia /Asia/Japan/Osaka
Asia /Asia/Japan/Tokyo
Australia /Australia
Australia /Australia/New South Wales
Australia /Australia/New South Wales/Sydney
Europe /Europe
Europe /Europe/United Kingdom
Europe /Europe/United Kingdom/England
Europe /Europe/United Kingdom/England/London
North America /North America
North America /North America/Canada
North America /North America/Canada/Ontario
North America /North America/Canada/Ontario/Ottawa
North America /North America/Canada/Ontario/Toronto
North America /North America/USA
North America /North America/USA/California
North America /North America/USA/California/Redwood Shores
CONNECT_BY_ISCYCLE伪列
在Oracle 10g 之前的版本中，如果在你的树中出现了环状循环（如一个孩子节点引用一个父亲节点），Oracle 就会报出一个错误提示：“ ORA-01436: CONNECT BY loop in user data”。如果不删掉对父亲的引用就无法执行查询操作。而在 Oracle 10g 中，只要指定“NOCYCLE”就可以进行任意的查询操作。与这个关键字相关的还有一个伪列——CONNECT_BY_ISCYCLE， 如果在当前行中引用了某个父亲节点的内容并在树中出现了循环，那么该行的伪列中就会显示“1”，否则就显示“0”。如下例所示：
create table hier2
(
parent number,
child number
);
insert into hier2 values(null,1);
insert into hier2 values(1,2);
insert into hier2 values(2,3);
insert into hier2 values(3,1);
select connect_by_iscycle,sys_connect_by_path(child,"/") path
from hier2
start with parent is null
connect by nocycle prior child = parent;
CONNECT_BY_ISCYCLE PATH
------------------ -------
0 /1
0 /1/2
1 /1/2/3