How to Connect to Oracle When Your Password Contains an @ Symbol

Oracle users sometimes set passwords that contain the @ symbol. Because the @ character is also used to separate the password from the database service name in a typical sqlplus connection string, the client interprets it as a delimiter and throws a "cannot parse connection string" error.

Method 1 – Escape the @ with a backslash

Open a command prompt and navigate to the directory where sqlplus is available (e.g., C:\Users\Administrator).

Run the connection command, placing a backslash before the @ inside the password and quoting the entire password string: sqlplus h2/"hydee@soft123\"@huarun_h2 Here hydee@soft123\ is the password; the trailing backslash escapes the @ , allowing the rest of the string ( @huarun_h2 ) to be interpreted as the service name.

Press Enter. The connection should succeed if the credentials and service name are correct.

Method 2 – Enclose the password in double quotes

Open a command prompt as before.

Execute the connection command, wrapping the password in double quotes and leaving the @ unescaped: sqlplus h2/"hydee@soft123"@huarun_h2 The quotes tell sqlplus to treat the entire string hydee@soft123 as the password, so the following @huarun_h2 is correctly parsed as the database identifier.

Press Enter to verify the connection.

Both methods achieve the same result: they prevent the embedded @ from being misinterpreted, allowing a successful login to an Oracle 11g (or later) database instance.