Some of the other suggestions may be better but this will also work: sqlplus /nolog SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.3.0 - Production on Fri Oct 24 11:01:34 2008 Copyright (c) 1982, 2006, Oracle. All Rights Reserved. SQL> Or to not be stuck at the SQL prompt: echo 'exit' | sqlplus /nolog > > lsnrctl status will give you the listener binary version > > may be can help -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l