SQL: Loading Flat files without SQL*Loader

Problem

You have a file which is accessible to the DB tier, but you don't want to write a SQL*Loader.

Solution

Create an external table. The principles and syntax are very similar to SQL*Loader.

Here is an example

drop table ext_tab;

CREATE TABLE ext_tab (
invoice_id varchar2(100), DISTRIBUTION_LINE_NUMBER varchar2(100), TYPE_1099 varchar2(100))
ORGANIZATION EXTERNAL (
  TYPE oracle_loader
  DEFAULT DIRECTORY APPLPTMP
    ACCESS PARAMETERS (
    RECORDS DELIMITED BY NEWLINE
    BADFILE 'bad_%a_%p.bad'
    LOGFILE 'log_%a_%p.log'
    FIELDS TERMINATED BY X'9' OPTIONALLY ENCLOSED BY '"'
    MISSING FIELD VALUES ARE NULL
    REJECT ROWS WITH ALL NULL FIELDS
    (invoice_id, DISTRIBUTION_LINE_NUMBER, TYPE_1099))
    LOCATION ('Test.txt')
  )
PARALLEL
REJECT LIMIT UNLIMITED
NOMONITORING;

select *
from ext_tab;

Result

Acknowledgment

Plenty more examples here: 

http://psoug.org/reference/externaltab.html