How to determine the type of a backup file based on the filename

Let's say you backed up your database and fast_recovery_area contains a number of backup files and you don't know which ones to use for recovery, which ones are full backup, which are incremental, and which are level 0 or level1. First get the backup piece id by running:

list backuppiece '/u01/fast_recovery_area/DBName/backupset/backup_filename.bkp'

The oputput should look something liek this:

List of Backup Pieces
BP Key  BS Key  Pc# Cp# Status      Device Type Piece Name
------- ------- --- --- ----------- ----------- ----------
5       5       1   1   AVAILABLE   DISK        /u01/fast_recovery_area/DBName/backupset/backup_filename.bkp

Then run

list backupset 5;

where 5 is the backup piece id of your backup file The output will look something like this:

List of Backup Sets
===================


BS Key  Type LV Size       Device Type Elapsed Time Completion Time
------- ---- -- ---------- ----------- ------------ ---------------
5       Incr 0  680.12M    DISK        00:00:06     18-JAN-13
        BP Key: 5   Status: AVAILABLE  Compressed: NO  Tag: TAG20130118T141414
        Piece Name: /u01/fast_recovery_area/DBName/backupset/backup_filename.bkp
  List of Datafiles in backup set 5
  File LV Type Ckp SCN    Ckp Time  Name
  ---- -- ---- ---------- --------- ----
  1    0  Incr 1256801    18-JAN-13 /u01/oradata/DBName/system01.dbf
  2    0  Incr 1256801    18-JAN-13 /u01/oradata/DBName/sysaux01.dbf
  3    0  Incr 1256801    18-JAN-13 /u01/oradata/DBName/undotbs01.dbf
  4    0  Incr 1256801    18-JAN-13 /u01/oradata/DBName/users01.dbf
  5    0  Incr 1256801    18-JAN-13 /u01/oradata/DBName/tbspace1_01.dbf

Field Type lists the backup type, in this case Incremental. The field LV lists the level of the backup - 0.