Oracle original Import tool IMP: Flag SHOW=Y does not print DML?

Question

recently I did some tests with the Oracle original Import tool "IMP" for preparing a migration from Oracle Database 8 to Oracle Database 12.

In that process I did some "dry-runs" using the SHOW=Y, FULL=Y and ROWS=Y parameters of IMP.

Am I missing something or is SHOW=Y in general not printing any DML statements? In a scenario like ... ROWS=Y SHOW=Y FULL=Y LOG=mylog.log ... I would have expected that the output would contain INSERT statements. Instead, mylog.log shows . . skipping table "FOOBAR" where I hoped to find INSERT INTO FOOBAR ....

If I - on the other hand - run the actual import (i.e. omitting SHOW=Y in the "IMP" parameter line), DML obivously seems to be executed: Data is written into the tables.

Oracle documentation seems to be not that precise on this topic.

Can someone please shed light into the dark? :-)

Answer 1

show=y is meant to only show how import would be processed without actually restoring anything... from your link :

You can also display the contents of an export file without actually performing an import. To do this, use the Import SHOW parameter. See SHOW for more information.

look - show contents of dump file, not show statements

Update: exp dump file does not have any insert statement - it is binary