[oracle@jumper oracle]$ cat a.sh
sqlplus -S "/ as sysdba" << !
set heading off
col today noprint
column today new_val dat
select to_char( sysdate, 'yyyy-mm-dd') today from dual;
host echo 'today is ' &dat
exit;
exit;
!
[oracle@jumper oracle]$ ./a.sh

today is  2005-04-11

[oracle@jumper oracle]$

[oracle@jumper oracle]$ more a.sh

#!/bin/ksh
VALUE=`sqlplus -silent "/ as sysdba" < < END
set pagesize 0 feedback off verify off heading off echo off
select max(sequence#) from v\\\$log_history;
exit;
END`

if [ -z "$VALUE" ]; then
echo "No rows returned from database"
exit 0
else
echo "Max Sequence Number: $VALUE"
fi


[oracle@jumper oracle]$ ./a.sh
Max Sequence Number:        17