sqlplus statement from command line

My version

$ sqlplus -s username/password@host:port/service <<< "select 1 from dual;"


         1
----------
         1

EDIT:

For multiline you can use this

$ echo -e "select 1 from dual; \n select 2 from dual;" | sqlplus -s username/password@host:port/service


         1
----------
         1


         2
----------
         2

I'm able to execute your exact query by just making sure there is a semicolon at the end of my select statement. (Output is actual, connection params removed.)

echo "select 1 from dual;" | sqlplus -s username/password@host:1521/service 

Output:

         1
----------
         1

Note that is should matter but this is running on Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Oracle 11g.

Just be aware that on Unix/Linux your username/password can be seen by anyone that can run "ps -ef" command if you place it directly on the command line . Could be a big security issue (or turn into a big security issue).

I usually recommend creating a file or using here document so you can protect the username/password from being viewed with "ps -ef" command in Unix/Linux. If the username/password is contained in a script file or sql file you can protect using appropriate user/group read permissions. Then you can keep the user/pass inside the file like this in a shell script:

sqlplus -s /nolog <<EOF
connect user/pass
select blah;
quit
EOF