Enabling and Disabling Triggers FAQS

1. How do you disable a trigger?

To disable a specific trigger:

ALTER TRIGGER trigger_name DISABLE;

After disabling:

·        The trigger will not fire.

·        The trigger definition remains in the database.

2. How do you enable a trigger?

ALTER TRIGGER trigger_name ENABLE;

Once enabled, the trigger resumes normal execution.

3. How do you disable all triggers on a table?

ALTER TABLE table_name DISABLE ALL TRIGGERS;

This disables:

·        BEFORE triggers

·        AFTER triggers

·        Row-level and statement-level triggers

4. How do you enable all triggers on a table?

ALTER TABLE table_name ENABLE ALL TRIGGERS;

5. How do you check whether a trigger is enabled or disabled?

SELECT trigger_name, status

FROM user_triggers

WHERE trigger_name = 'TRIGGER_NAME';

Possible values:

·        ENABLED

·        DISABLED

6. What privileges are required to enable/disable triggers?

·        To manage triggers in your schema → ALTER privilege on the trigger

·        To manage triggers in another schema → appropriate privileges (e.g., DBA)

·        For database-level triggers → ADMINISTER DATABASE TRIGGER

7. Why would you disable a trigger?

Common reasons:

·        Bulk data loads

·        Data migration

·        Performance testing

·        Troubleshooting issues

·        Avoiding business rule enforcement temporarily

8. Does disabling a trigger affect existing data?

No.

·        Disabling only prevents future execution.

·        Existing data remains unchanged.

9. Can a disabled trigger be automatically enabled again?

No. It must be manually enabled using:

ALTER TRIGGER trigger_name ENABLE;

10. What happens if you drop a table?

All triggers associated with that table are automatically dropped.

11. Can you disable database-level triggers?

Yes.

ALTER TRIGGER trigger_name DISABLE;

This works for:

·        LOGON triggers

·        DDL triggers

·        SERVERERROR triggers

12. Is it better to disable or drop a trigger temporarily?

·        Disable if temporary

·        Drop if permanently removing logic

Disabling is safer for short-term operations.

13. How can you disable multiple triggers at once?

Using dynamic SQL:

BEGIN

   FOR t IN (SELECT trigger_name FROM user_triggers) LOOP

      EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'ALTER TRIGGER ' || t.trigger_name || ' DISABLE';

   END LOOP;

END;

/

14. Can disabling triggers improve performance?

Yes, especially:

·        During large batch inserts

·        During data imports

·        When row-level triggers contain heavy logic

However, be cautious:

·        Disabling triggers may bypass important validations.

15. How do you enable/disable triggers safely in production?

Best practices:

·        Test in non-production first

·        Document reason for disabling

·        Re-enable immediately after task

·        Monitor data integrity

·        Use maintenance window

16. What is the difference between disabling a trigger and making it INVALID?

Disabled	Invalid
Manually turned off	Has compilation errors
Will not fire	Attempts to compile when fired
Status = DISABLED	Status = INVALID