Interval partitioning is an extension of range partitioning which instructs the database to automatically create partitions of a specified interval when data inserted into the table exceeds all of the existing range partitions. You must specify at least one range partition. The range partitioning key value determines the high value of the range partitions, which is called the transition point, and the database creates interval partitions for data with values that are beyond that transition point. The lower boundary of every interval partition is the non-inclusive upper boundary of the previous range or interval partition.
For example, if you create an interval partitioned table with monthly intervals and you set the transition point at January 1, 2007, then the lower boundary for the January 2007 interval is January 1, 2007. The lower boundary for the July 2007 interval is July 1, 2007, regardless of whether the June 2007 partition was created.
You can create single-level interval partitioned tables and the following composite partitioned tables:
Interval-range
Interval-hash
Interval-list
Only one partitioning key column can be specified, and it must be of NUMBER or DATE type.
Interval partitioning is not supported for index-organized tables.
NULL values cannot be stored in the partitioning key column when using interval partitioning.
Interval partitioning supports a subset of the capabilities of range partitioning. For information about restrictions when using interval partitioning, refer to Oracle Database SQL Language Reference.