Which two options are part of a Soft Parse operation?

A soft parse occurs when a submitted SQL statement is already present in the shared pool, allowing the database to reuse the existing execution plan. This avoids the expensive steps of optimization and row source generation. However, the database must still perform a syntax check to ensure the statement is grammatically correct and a semantic check to validate that the referenced objects still exist and the user has the required privileges, as these conditions could have changed since the statement was first parsed.

B. SQL row source generation is the creation of an executable plan. This step is skipped during a soft parse as the existing plan is reused.
C. SQL optimization is the process of finding the best execution plan. This is a key part of a hard parse and is skipped during a soft parse.
D. Memory is allocated in the shared pool during a hard parse to store a new cursor. A soft parse reuses an existing cursor already in memory.

1. Oracle Database SQL Tuning Guide, 19c, Chapter 2, "Introduction to the Optimizer", Section "Parsing". The documentation states: "A soft parse is any parse that is not a hard parse... The database must still perform syntax and semantic checks..."

2. Oracle Database Concepts, 19c, Chapter 14, "Memory Architecture", Section "Library Cache". It explains that for a soft parse, the database "verifies that the user has privileges to access the schema objects" (semantic check) and reuses the existing code.