Some Common Errors - 2 - NOLOGGING as a Hint

Continuing the Common Errors Series,

this is the second common error : specifying NOLOGGING as a Hint and expecting it to work.

I have seen instances of code like :

INSERT /*+ APPEND NOLOGGING */ INTO 

OR

INSERT /*+ NOLOGGING */ INTO 

OR

DELETE /*+ NOLOGGING */ FROM 

OR

UPDATE /*+ NOLOGGING */ 

All of these will generate Redo -- i.e. none of them will actually be NOLOGGING.
(update : caveat : The INSERT /*+ APPEND NOLOGGING */ will actually be a nologging operation in a database that is running NOARCHIVELOG mode, but not because of the NOLOGGING hint but because of how Oracle handles APPEND in a NOARCHIVELOG database).

There is no such Hint as NOLOGGING.
NOLOGGING can only be specified either as a
a) Table/Index attribute (e.g with an "ALTER TABLE/INDEX")
or
b) as a DDL Clause (in a CREATE or ALTER ... MOVE or ALTER .. REBUILD)

If you specify a "Hint" "NOLOGGING" Oracle calmly ignores it -- intended hints that are invalid are ignored (or, you could say, as I would, treated as comments) without raising an error.

This still raises questions about NOLOGGING in situations like
1. When it is defined at the Tablespace/Table/Index level -- does it apply to all operations ?
2. How does NOLOGGING come into play with respect to Indexes.

Needless to say, there seem to be some misconceptions around these as well. I shall raise those as other "common errors" in the near future.

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