Ezconnect

Today I noticed the reason why I have not bothered to use ezconnect method with sqlplus connections.

sqlplus system/oracle@localhost/orcl

I do not like to reveal my passwords on screen if possible.

sqlplus system@localhost/orcl

ERROR:
ORA-12504: TNS:listener was not given the SERVICE_NAME in CONNECT_DATA

Additional quotes are needed with ezconnect, when I do not want to write the password on command line.

sqlplus system@\"localhost/orcl\"
Enter password:

or

sqlplus /nolog
SQL> conn system@"localhost/orcl"
Enter password:
Connected.

Seems like 11.2 client does not need NAMES.DIRECTORY_PATH= (ezconnect) line in sqlnet.ora anymore to use the method. 10.1, 10.2 and 11.1 version client installations need that line there.