With so many real stories told, I am thinking maybe there are some common things one could do to reduce the chance of making bad mistakes.
1. Try not to open too many telnet/ssh or sqlplus sessions at the same time. I usually keep one or two. If I need to log into another db, I get out the current session(s) and log into the new db. If one needs to have prod and dev sessions both open, then try to set different background colors so one won't be confused. 2. Have the sqlplus prompt containing the instance name and user name (glogin file), if possible. Also type "show user" just to make sure before you run some important commands 3. For important commands, I try not to run scripts from sqlplus session, I have all the sql statements ready on notepad, and then copy and paste them into sqlplus one by one. This way if something fails, I can decide what to do next (rollback, etc). Also try them on dev db first, not run them on prod and you "think" they will succeed there. 4.Regarding rm command, I always go to the the bottom subdirecty, do ls first, then "rm filename(s)", I try not to use "rm *". Maybe a bit slow, but much safer. 5. If I need to drop a table, I rename it first, and drop it after several days if nothing happens. If I want to make some changes to a table data (on prod), If possible, I make a copy of the table data (CTAS) first.
People make mistakes when they are in hurry or they do not pay attention. Slowdown a bit and double check your command sometime will save your day and possibly your job.
Guang -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l
