Oracle SELECT INTO OUTFILE problem

Hello, I am using Oracle and trying to output the returned query data to a TAB Delimited file. I tried using

"SELECT columns FROM tables INTO OUTFILE 'dir/filename.txt' FIELDS TERMINATED BY '\t' WHERE conditions"

But Oracle just gives the Error:
"Warning: OCIStmtExecute: ORA-00905: missing keyword"

Am I doing this incorrectly or does Oracle just not support it, or is there another way to send the data to a file? I am currently sending it to an outfile by looping through each row, storing it in a variable, and then writing it to a file, but it takes quite a while, since the query returns a LOT of data. Thanks in advance.

-Chris C.

here is what i have done when i need to output a query to a tab delimited file. basically just use the spool command. if you really want to get crazy...put the following into a shell script:


. /etc/profile
ORACLE_SID=<instancename>;export ORACLE_SID
. oraenv

sqlplus name/pass << EOF

SET LINESIZE 500 FEEDBACK OFF TRIMSPOOL ON TERMOUT OFF HEAD OFF PAGESIZE 0 term off

SPOOL /directory/name/outputfile.dat

SELECT TO_CHAR(id) || chr(9) || name || chr(9) || type
FROM tbl_something;

SPOOL OFF

EXIT;
EOF