In Oracle Database, the USER function returns the name of the session user (the user who logged on).

Syntax

The syntax goes like this:

USER

So, no parentheses or arguments are required (or accepted).

Example

Here’s an example to demonstrate:

SELECT USER FROM DUAL;

Result:

HR

In this case, the current user is HR.

The actual result will depend on the session user running the query. This may change during the duration of a database session as Real Application Security sessions are attached or detached.

A similar function is the UID function, which returns the ID of the session user.

Here they are side by side:

SELECT UID, USER FROM DUAL;

Result:

   UID    USER 
______ _______ 
   138 HR