Workaround for ORA-14634 during an attempt to split a partition containing subpartitions

Short background:
I had a LIST/RANGE partitioned tables that needed a new partition.

The table is partitioned BY LIST on column STREAM, and subpartitioned BY RANGE on column LASTUPDATED. 

Each subpartition is placed in a tablespace according to the year in the LASTUPDATED column. 

So for example, no matter which partition the subpartition belongs to, it will always go into tablespace DATA_2019 if the LASTUPDATED column has a value which falls within the boundaries of year 2019. 

This is called vertically striping of partitions and is often, but now always, set up using a subpartition template.

DDL for the table:

  CREATE TABLE CATEGORIES
(
  UID              VARCHAR2(255 BYTE),
  CREATED          TIMESTAMP(6)                 NOT NULL,
  LASTUPDATED      TIMESTAMP(6)                 NOT NULL,
  BODY             CLOB,
  STREAM           VARCHAR2(255 BYTE)
)
LOB (SBODY) STORE AS SECUREFILE BLOB (
  TABLESPACE  DATA1
  ENABLE      STORAGE IN ROW
  CHUNK       8192
  COMPRESS    MEDIUM
)
COMPRESS FOR OLTP
TABLESPACE DATA1
PARTITION BY LIST (STREAM)
SUBPARTITION BY RANGE (LASTUPDATED)
(
 -- partition definition ..
 	-- subpartition definition..
);
  

I had the following SQL intended to split the partition OTHERS into a brand new partition called DIGITAL_MEDIA:

ALTER TABLE categories
 SPLIT PARTITION OTHERS VALUES
 ('audiobooks')
 INTO (
       PARTITION DIGITAL_MEDIA
       TABLESPACE DATA1
     (
     	 -- 2016
        SUBPARTITION SP_dm_older 
        VALUES LESS THAN ( TO_DATE('2016-01', 'YYYY-MM')) TABLESPACE DATA1,
        subpartition SP_dm_201601 
        VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE(' 2016-02-01 00:00:00', 'SYYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS')) TABLESPACE DATA_2016,
        LOB (BLOB) STORE AS SECUREFILE  ( TABLESPACE DATA_2016 ),
        VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE(' 2016-03-01 00:00:00', 'SYYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS')) TABLESPACE DATA_2016,
        LOB (BLOB) STORE AS SECUREFILE  ( TABLESPACE DATA_2016 ),
        .
        .
        .
        subpartition SP_dm_202411 
        VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE(' 2024-12-01 00:00:00', 'SYYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS')) TABLESPACE DATA_2024
        LOB (BLOB) STORE AS SECUREFILE  ( TABLESPACE ATOMHOPPER_2024 ),
        subpartition SP_dm_202412 
        VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE(' 2025-01-01 00:00:00', 'SYYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS')) TABLESPACE DATA_2024
        LOB (BLOB) STORE AS SECUREFILE  ( TABLESPACE DATA_2024 ),
        SUBPARTITION SP_DM_DEFAULT VALUES LESS THAN (MAXVALUE) TABLESPACE DATA1
        LOB (BLOB) STORE AS SECUREFILE  ( TABLESPACE DATA1)
        )
     ,
PARTITION OTHERS
)
ONLINE
UPDATE GLOBAL INDEXES;

There were a total of 110 subpartitioned listed in the above DDL. When trying to execute the script, I received:

ORA-14634: Subpartition descriptions cannot be specified during the SPLIT/MERGE of a partition of a Range-List partitioned table

Looking it up:

oerr ora 14634
// *Cause:  During a split or a merge of a partition of a range list
//          partitioned table you cannot specify any subpartitioning
//          information for the resulting partition (s)
// *Action: Remove all subpartitioning information from the DDL.

A rather clear message, which I followed, and thus changed my DDL to this:

ALTER TABLE categories
 SPLIT PARTITION OTHERS VALUES
 ('audiobooks')
 INTO (
       PARTITION DIGITAL_MEDIA
     , PARTITION OTHERS)
ONLINE
UPDATE GLOBAL INDEXES;

indeed a much simpler syntax.

 
It parsed without errors, and the result was a new partition, with system-generated names, placed in the correct tablespaces.

Let's verify the results:

SELECT table_name,partition_name,subpartition_name,tablespace_name
FROM DBA_TAB_SUBPARTITIONS 
WHERE TABLE_NAME='CATEGORIES' 
AND PARTITION_NAME='DIGITAL_MEDIA';
 

TABLE_NAME	PARTITION_NAME	SUBPARTITION_NAME	TABLESPACE_NAME
CATEGORIES	DIGITAL_MEDIA	SYS_SUBP39427	DATA_2016
CATEGORIES	DIGITAL_MEDIA	SYS_SUBP39428	DATA_2016
CATEGORIES	DIGITAL_MEDIA	SYS_SUBP39429	DATA_2016
CATEGORIES	DIGITAL_MEDIA	SYS_SUBP39527	DATA_2024
CATEGORIES	DIGITAL_MEDIA	SYS_SUBP39528	DATA_2024
CATEGORIES	DIGITAL_MEDIA	SYS_SUBP39529	DATA_2024

The fact that we for this particular partition now must deal with system generated names is of no importance. The optimizer will still use partition pruning when appropriate.

How to list subpartitions and their sizes

First, find the number of partitions and subpartitions in a specific tablespace:

SELECT S.TABLE_NAME, S.TABLESPACE_NAME,COUNT(DISTINCT S.PARTITION_NAME) "num partitions", COUNT(DISTINCT S.SUBPARTITION_NAME) "num subpartitions"
FROM DBA_TAB_SUBPARTITIONS S 
WHERE S.TABLE_OWNER='SCOTT'
GROUP BY S.TABLE_NAME, S.TABLESPACE_NAME;

TABLE_NAME	TABLESPACE_NAME	num partitions	num subpartitions
MYTABLE1	DATA1	75	450
MYTABLE2	DATA2	73	219
MYTABLE3	DATA1	74	222
MYTABLE4	DATA2	74	222
MYTABLE5	DATA1	81	243

For a specific table, all partitions and their subpartitions:

SELECT P.PARTITION_NAME, P.SUBPARTITION_NAME, S.SEGMENT_TYPE,S.TABLESPACE_NAME,P.COMPRESSION,P.COMPRESS_FOR, P.NUM_ROWS, P.LAST_ANALYZED,ROUND(S.BYTES/1024/1024/1024,1) "gb" 
FROM DBA_SEGMENTS S JOIN DBA_TAB_SUBPARTITIONS P
ON (S.SEGMENT_NAME = P.TABLE_NAME)
WHERE S.SEGMENT_NAME='MYTABLE'
AND   S.OWNER = 'SCOTT'
AND S.PARTITION_NAME = P.SUBPARTITION_NAME
ORDER BY P.PARTITION_NAME, P.SUBPARTITION_NAME, S.BYTES DESC;

PARTITION_NAME	SUBPARTITION_NAME	SEGMENT_TYPE	TABLESPACE_NAME	COMPRESSION	COMPRESS_FOR	NUM_ROWS	LAST_ANALYZED	gb
SYS_P177766	SYS_SUBP177763	TABLE SUBPARTITION	DATA2	DISABLED		26021384	25.06.2020 22:55:36	12
SYS_P177766	SYS_SUBP177764	TABLE SUBPARTITION	DATA2	DISABLED		21531914	26.06.2020 23:32:34	9,1
SYS_P177766	SYS_SUBP177765	TABLE SUBPARTITION	DATA2	DISABLED		0	02.03.2020 00:56:19	0
SYS_P177774	SYS_SUBP177771	TABLE SUBPARTITION	DATA2	DISABLED		285	16.07.2020 23:21:12	0
SYS_P177774	SYS_SUBP177772	TABLE SUBPARTITION	DATA1	DISABLED		259	16.07.2020 23:21:30	0

For specific subpartitions:

SELECT P.PARTITION_NAME "Subpartition name", S.PARTITION_NAME,S.SEGMENT_TYPE,S.TABLESPACE_NAME,P.COMPRESSION,P.COMPRESS_FOR, P.NUM_ROWS, P.LAST_ANALYZED,ROUND(S.BYTES/1024/1024/1024,1) "gb" 
FROM DBA_SEGMENTS S JOIN DBA_TAB_SUBPARTITIONS P
ON (S.SEGMENT_NAME = P.TABLE_NAME)
AND   S.OWNER = 'SCOTT'
AND S.PARTITION_NAME = P.SUBPARTITION_NAME
AND P.SUBPARTITION_NAME in ('SYS_SUBP177773','SYS_SUBP177763','SYS_SUBP177764','SYS_SUBP177765');

PARTITION_NAME	Subpartition name	SEGMENT_TYPE	TABLESPACE_NAME	COMPRESSION	COMPRESS_FOR	NUM_ROWS	LAST_ANALYZED	gb
SYS_P177766	SYS_SUBP177763	TABLE SUBPARTITION	DATA1	DISABLED		26021384	25.06.2020 22:55:36	12
SYS_P177766	SYS_SUBP177764	TABLE SUBPARTITION	DATA1	DISABLED		21531914	26.06.2020 23:32:34	9,1
SYS_P177766	SYS_SUBP177765	TABLE SUBPARTITION	DATA1	DISABLED		0	02.03.2020 00:56:19	0
SYS_P177774	SYS_SUBP177773	TABLE SUBPARTITION	DATA1	DISABLED		0	02.03.2020 00:56:20	0

For a specific partition:

SELECT S.PARTITION_NAME "Subpartition name", S.SEGMENT_TYPE,S.TABLESPACE_NAME,P.COMPRESSION,P.COMPRESS_FOR, P.NUM_ROWS, P.LAST_ANALYZED,ROUND(S.BYTES/1024/1024/1024,1) "gb" 
FROM DBA_SEGMENTS S JOIN DBA_TAB_SUBPARTITIONS P
ON (S.SEGMENT_NAME = P.TABLE_NAME)
WHERE S.SEGMENT_NAME='MYTABLE'
AND   S.OWNER = 'SCOTT'
AND S.PARTITION_NAME = P.SUBPARTITION_NAME
AND P.PARTITION_NAME ='SYS_P14675'
ORDER BY S.BYTES DESC;

Subpartition name	SEGMENT_TYPE	TABLESPACE_NAME	COMPRESSION	COMPRESS_FOR	NUM_ROWS	LAST_ANALYZED	gb
SYS_SUBP14672	TABLE SUBPARTITION	DATA1	DISABLED		127103150	29.06.2019	51,4
SYS_SUBP14673	TABLE SUBPARTITION	DATA1	DISABLED		89059917	29.06.2019	34,1
SYS_SUBP14674	TABLE SUBPARTITION	DATA1	DISABLED		0	29.06.2019	0

For a specific tablespace:

SELECT S.PARTITION_NAME "Subpartition name",S.SEGMENT_TYPE,S.TABLESPACE_NAME,P.COMPRESSION,P.COMPRESS_FOR, P.NUM_ROWS, P.LAST_ANALYZED,ROUND(S.BYTES/1024/1024/1024,1) "gb" 
FROM DBA_SEGMENTS S JOIN DBA_TAB_SUBPARTITIONS P
ON (S.SEGMENT_NAME = P.TABLE_NAME)
WHERE S.OWNER = 'SCOTT'
AND S.TABLESPACE_NAME='DATA1'
AND S.PARTITION_NAME = P.SUBPARTITION_NAME
ORDER BY S.BYTES DESC; 

Subpartition name	SEGMENT_TYPE	TABLESPACE_NAME	COMPRESSION	COMPRESS_FOR	NUM_ROWS	LAST_ANALYZED	gb
SYS_SUBP27395	TABLE SUBPARTITION	SCOTT	DISABLED		100835414	27.10.2018 19:06:53	44,6
SYS_SUBP29902	TABLE SUBPARTITION	SCOTT	DISABLED		88951135	27.10.2018 21:23:24	41,6
SYS_SUBP29332	TABLE SUBPARTITION	SCOTT	DISABLED		83142250	27.10.2018 23:40:00	38,3
SYS_SUBP29395	TABLE SUBPARTITION	SCOTT	DISABLED		78610455	27.10.2018 19:00:05	37,1
SYS_SUBP28115	TABLE SUBPARTITION	SCOTT	DISABLED		75810738	07.07.2018 15:54:52	35,7