Reclaiming unused space within an extent

After the database server allocates disk space to a tblspace as part of an extent, that space remains dedicated to the tblspace. Even if all extent pages become empty after you delete data, the disk space remains unavailable for use by other tables unless you reclaim the space.

Important: When you delete rows in a table, the database server reuses that space to insert new rows into the same table. This section describes the procedures for reclaiming unused space for use by other tables.

You might want to resize a table that does not require the entire amount of space that was originally allocated to it. You can reallocate a smaller dbspace and release the unneeded space for other tables to use.

As the database server administrator, you can reclaim the disk space in empty extents and make it available to other users by rebuilding the table. To rebuild the table, use any of the following SQL statements:
  • ALTER INDEX
  • UNLOAD and LOAD
  • ALTER FRAGMENT