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PL/SQL - Basic Syntax

In this chapter, we will discuss the Basic Syntax of PL/SQL which is a block-structured
language; this means that the PL/SQL programs are divided and written in logical blocks of
code. Each block consists of three sub-parts −

[Link] Sections & Description

Declarations
This section starts with the keyword DECLARE. It is an optional section and
1
defines all variables, cursors, subprograms, and other elements to be used in
the program.

Executable Commands
This section is enclosed between the keywords BEGIN and END and it is a
2 mandatory section. It consists of the executable PL/SQL statements of the
program. It should have at least one executable line of code, which may be
just a NULL command to indicate that nothing should be executed.

Exception Handling
3 This section starts with the keyword EXCEPTION. This optional section
contains exception(s) that handle errors in the program.

Every PL/SQL statement ends with a semicolon (;). PL/SQL blocks can be nested within
other PL/SQL blocks using BEGIN and END. Following is the basic structure of a PL/SQL
block −

DECLARE
<declarations
section> BEGIN
<executable
command(s)> EXCEPTION
<exception handling>
END;

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The 'Hello World' Example

DECLARE
message varchar2(20):= 'Hello, World!';
BEGIN
dbms_output.put_line(message);
END;
/

The end; line signals the end of the PL/SQL block. To run the code from the SQL
command line, you may need to type / at the beginning of the first blank line after the
last line of the code. When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces
the following result −

Hello
World

PL/SQL procedure successfully

completed.

The PL/SQL Identifiers

PL/SQL identifiers are constants, variables, exceptions, procedures, cursors, and
reserved words. The identifiers consist of a letter optionally followed by more letters,
numerals, dollar signs, underscores, and number signs and should not exceed 30
characters.

By default, identifiers are not case-sensitive. So you can use integer or INTEGER to
represent a numeric value. You cannot use a reserved keyword as an identifier.

The PL/SQL Delimiters

A delimiter is a symbol with a special meaning. Following is the list of delimiters in
PL/SQL −

Delimiter Description

+, -, *, / Addition, subtraction/negation, multiplication, division

% Attribute indicator

' Character string delimiter

. Component selector

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(,) Expression or list delimiter

: Host variable indicator

, Item separator

" Quoted identifier delimiter

= Relational operator

@ Remote access indicator

; Statement terminator

:= Assignment operator

=> Association operator

|| Concatenation operator

** Exponentiation operator

<<, >> Label delimiter (begin and end)

/*, */ Multi-line comment delimiter (begin and end)

-- Single-line comment indicator

.. Range operator

<, >, <=, >= Relational operators

<>, '=, ~=, ^= Different versions of NOT EQUAL

The PL/SQL Comments

Program comments are explanatory statements that can be included in the PL/SQL code
that you write and helps anyone reading its source code. All programming languages
allow some form of comments.

The PL/SQL supports single-line and multi-line comments. All characters available inside
any comment are ignored by the PL/SQL compiler. The PL/SQL single-line comments
start with the delimiter -- (double hyphen) and multi-line comments are enclosed by /* and
*/.

DECLARE
-- variable declaration
message varchar2(20):= 'Hello, World!';

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BEGIN
/*
* PL/SQL executable statement(s)
*/
dbms_output.put_line(message);
END;
/

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the following result −

Hello World

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

PL/SQL Program Units

A PL/SQL unit is any one of the following −

PL/SQL block

Function
Package

Package body
Procedure
Trigger
Type

Type body

Each of these units will be discussed in the following chapters.

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PL/SQL - Data Types

In this chapter, we will discuss the Data Types in PL/SQL. The PL/SQL variables,
constants and parameters must have a valid data type, which specifies a storage format,
constraints, and a valid range of values. We will focus on the SCALAR and the LOB data
types in this chapter. The other two data types will be covered in other chapters.

[Link] Category & Description

Scalar
1 Single values with no internal components, such as a NUMBER, DATE, or
BOOLEAN.

Large Object (LOB)

2 Pointers to large objects that are stored separately from other data items, such as
text, graphic images, video clips, and sound waveforms.

Composite
3 Data items that have internal components that can be accessed individually.
For example, collections and records.

Reference
4
Pointers to other data items.

PL/SQL Scalar Data Types and Subtypes

PL/SQL Scalar Data Types and Subtypes come under the following categories −

[Link] Date Type & Description

Numeric
1
Numeric values on which arithmetic operations are performed.

Character
2
Alphanumeric values that represent single characters or strings of characters.

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Boolean
3
Logical values on which logical operations are performed.

Datetime
4
Dates and times.

PL/SQL provides subtypes of data types. For example, the data type NUMBER has a
subtype called INTEGER. You can use the subtypes in your PL/SQL program to make the
data types compatible with data types in other programs while embedding the PL/SQL
code in another program, such as a Java program.

PL/SQL Numeric Data Types and Subtypes

Following table lists out the PL/SQL pre-defined numeric data types and their sub-types
−

[Link] Data Type & Description

PLS_INTEGER
1 Signed integer in range -2,147,483,648 through 2,147,483,647, represented in 32
bits

BINARY_INTEGER
2 Signed integer in range -2,147,483,648 through 2,147,483,647, represented in 32
bits

BINARY_FLOAT
3
Single-precision IEEE 754-format floating-point number

BINARY_DOUBLE
4
Double-precision IEEE 754-format floating-point number

NUMBER(prec, scale)
5 Fixed-point or floating-point number with absolute value in range 1E-130 to (but
not including) 1.0E126. A NUMBER variable can also represent 0

DEC(prec, scale)
6
ANSI specific fixed-point type with maximum precision of 38 decimal digits

DECIMAL(prec, scale)
7
IBM specific fixed-point type with maximum precision of 38 decimal digits

NUMERIC(pre, secale)
8
Floating type with maximum precision of 38 decimal digits

9 DOUBLE PRECISION

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ANSI specific floating-point type with maximum precision of 126 binary digits
(approximately 38 decimal digits)

FLOAT
10 ANSI and IBM specific floating-point type with maximum precision of 126 binary
digits (approximately 38 decimal digits)

INT
11
ANSI specific integer type with maximum precision of 38 decimal digits

INTEGER
12 ANSI and IBM specific integer type with maximum precision of 38 decimal digits

SMALLINT
13 ANSI and IBM specific integer type with maximum precision of 38 decimal digits

REAL
14 Floating-point type with maximum precision of 63 binary digits (approximately 18
decimal digits)

Following is a valid declaration −

DECLARE
num1 INTEGER;
num2 REAL;
num3 DOUBLE
PRECISION; BEGIN
null;
END;
/

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed

PL/SQL Character Data Types and Subtypes

Following is the detail of PL/SQL pre-defined character data types and their sub-types −

[Link] Data Type & Description

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CHAR
1
Fixed-length character string with maximum size of 32,767 bytes

VARCHAR2
2
Variable-length character string with maximum size of 32,767 bytes

RAW
3 Variable-length binary or byte string with maximum size of 32,767 bytes, not
interpreted by PL/SQL

NCHAR
4
Fixed-length national character string with maximum size of 32,767 bytes

NVARCHAR2
5
Variable-length national character string with maximum size of 32,767 bytes

LONG
6
Variable-length character string with maximum size of 32,760 bytes

LONG RAW
7 Variable-length binary or byte string with maximum size of 32,760 bytes, not
interpreted by PL/SQL

ROWID
8
Physical row identifier, the address of a row in an ordinary table

UROWID
9
Universal row identifier (physical, logical, or foreign row identifier)

PL/SQL Boolean Data Types

The BOOLEAN data type stores logical values that are used in logical operations. The
logical values are the Boolean values TRUE and FALSE and the value NULL.

However, SQL has no data type equivalent to BOOLEAN. Therefore, Boolean values
cannot be used in −

SQL statements
Built-in SQL functions (such as TO_CHAR)

PL/SQL functions invoked from SQL statements

PL/SQL Datetime and Interval Types

The DATE datatype is used to store fixed-length datetimes, which include the time of
day in seconds since midnight. Valid dates range from January 1, 4712 BC to December

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31, 9999 AD.

The default date format is set by the Oracle initialization parameter NLS_DATE_FORMAT.
For example, the default might be 'DD-MON-YY', which includes a two-digit number for the
day of the month, an abbreviation of the month name, and the last two digits of the year.
For example, 01-OCT-12.

Each DATE includes the century, year, month, day, hour, minute, and second. The
following table shows the valid values for each field −

Valid Interval
Field Name Valid Datetime Values
Values

YEAR -4712 to 9999 (excluding year 0) Any nonzero integer

MONTH 01 to 12 0 to 11

01 to 31 (limited by the values of

DAY MONTH and YEAR, according to the Any nonzero integer
rules of the calendar for the locale)

HOUR 00 to 23 0 to 23

MINUTE 00 to 59 0 to 59

0 to 59.9(n), where 9(n)

00 to 59.9(n), where 9(n) is the is the precision of
SECOND
precision of time fractional seconds interval fractional
seconds

-12 to 14 (range accommodates

TIMEZONE_HOUR Not applicable
daylight savings time changes)

TIMEZONE_MINUTE 00 to 59 Not applicable

Found in the dynamic performance

TIMEZONE_REGION Not applicable
view V$TIMEZONE_NAMES

Found in the dynamic performance

TIMEZONE_ABBR Not applicable
view V$TIMEZONE_NAMES

PL/SQL Large Object (LOB) Data Types

Large Object (LOB) data types refer to large data items such as text, graphic images,
video clips, and sound waveforms. LOB data types allow efficient, random, piecewise
access to this data. Following are the predefined PL/SQL LOB data types −

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Data Type Description Size

Used to store large binary objects in

System-dependent. Cannot
BFILE operating system files outside the
exceed 4 gigabytes (GB).
database.

Used to store large binary objects in

BLOB 8 to 128 terabytes (TB)
the database.

Used to store large blocks of character

CLOB 8 to 128 TB
data in the database.

Used to store large blocks of NCHAR

NCLOB 8 to 128 TB
data in the database.

PL/SQL User-Defined Subtypes

A subtype is a subset of another data type, which is called its base type. A subtype has
the same valid operations as its base type, but only a subset of its valid values.

PL/SQL predefines several subtypes in package STANDARD. For example, PL/SQL

predefines the subtypes CHARACTER and INTEGER as follows −

SUBTYPE CHARACTER IS CHAR;

SUBTYPE INTEGER IS NUMBER(38,0);

You can define and use your own subtypes. The following program illustrates defining
and using a user-defined subtype −

DECLARE
SUBTYPE name IS char(20);
SUBTYPE message IS varchar2(100);
salutation name;
greetings message;
BEGIN
salutation := 'Reader ';
greetings := 'Welcome to the World of PL/SQL';
dbms_output.put_line('Hello ' || salutation ||
greetings); END;
/

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the following result −

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Hello Reader Welcome to the World of

PL/SQL PL/SQL procedure successfully

completed.

NULLs in PL/SQL
PL/SQL NULL values represent missing or unknown data and they are not an integer, a
character, or any other specific data type. Note that NULL is not the same as an empty
data string or the null character value '\0'. A null can be assigned but it cannot be
equated with anything, including itself.

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PL/SQL - Variables
In this chapter, we will discuss Variables in Pl/SQL. A variable is nothing but a name
given to a storage area that our programs can manipulate. Each variable in PL/SQL has a
specific data type, which determines the size and the layout of the variable's memory;
the range of values that can be stored within that memory and the set of operations that
can be applied to the variable.

The name of a PL/SQL variable consists of a letter optionally followed by more letters,
numerals, dollar signs, underscores, and number signs and should not exceed 30
characters. By default, variable names are not case-sensitive. You cannot use a reserved
PL/SQL keyword as a variable name.

PL/SQL programming language allows to define various types of variables, such as date
time data types, records, collections, etc. which we will cover in subsequent chapters.
For this chapter, let us study only basic variable types.

Variable Declaration in PL/SQL

PL/SQL variables must be declared in the declaration section or in a package as a global
variable. When you declare a variable, PL/SQL allocates memory for the variable's value
and the storage location is identified by the variable name.

The syntax for declaring a variable is −

variable_name [CONSTANT] datatype [NOT NULL] [:= | DEFAULT initial_value]

Where, variable_name is a valid identifier in PL/SQL, datatype must be a valid PL/SQL data
type or any user defined data type which we already have discussed in the last chapter.
Some valid variable declarations along with their definition are shown below −

sales number(10, 2);

pi CONSTANT double precision := 3.1415;

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name varchar2(25);
address varchar2(100);

When you provide a size, scale or precision limit with the data type, it is called a
constrained declaration. Constrained declarations require less memory than
unconstrained declarations. For example −

sales number(10, 2);

name varchar2(25);
address varchar2(100);

Initializing Variables in PL/SQL

Whenever you declare a variable, PL/SQL assigns it a default value of NULL. If you want to
initialize a variable with a value other than the NULL value, you can do so during the
declaration, using either of the following −

The DEFAULT keyword

The assignment operator

For example −

counter binary_integer := 0;
greetings varchar2(20) DEFAULT 'Have a Good Day';

You can also specify that a variable should not have a NULL value using the NOT NULL
constraint. If you use the NOT NULL constraint, you must explicitly assign an initial value
for that variable.

It is a good programming practice to initialize variables properly otherwise, sometimes

programs would produce unexpected results. Try the following example which makes use
of various types of variables −

DECLARE
a integer := 10;
b integer := 20;
c integer
; f real;
BEGIN
c := a + b;
dbms_output.put_line('Value of c: ' || c);

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f := 70.0/3.0;
dbms_output.put_line('Value of f: ' ||
f); END;
/

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

Value of c: 30
Value of f:
23.333333333333333333

PL/SQL procedure successfully

completed.
Variable Scope in PL/SQL
PL/SQL allows the nesting of blocks, i.e., each program block may contain another inner
block. If a variable is declared within an inner block, it is not accessible to the outer
block. However, if a variable is declared and accessible to an outer block, it is also
accessible to all nested inner blocks. There are two types of variable scope −

Local variables − Variables declared in an inner block and not accessible to

outer blocks.

Global variables − Variables declared in the outermost block or a package.

Following example shows the usage of Local and Global variables in its simple form −

DECLARE
-- Global
variables num1
number := 95; num2
number := 85;
BEGIN
dbms_output.put_line('Outer Variable num1: ' ||
num1); dbms_output.put_line('Outer Variable num2:
' || num2); DECLARE
-- Local variables
num1 number := 195;
num2 number := 185;
BEGIN
dbms_output.put_line('Inner Variable num1: ' || num1);
dbms_output.put_line('Inner Variable num2: ' || num2);
END;

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END;
/

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

Outer Variable num1:

95
Outer Variable num2:
85 Inner Variable
num1: 195 Inner

PL/SQL procedure successfully

completed.
Assigning SQL Query Results to PL/SQL Variables
You can use the SELECT INTO statement of SQL to assign values to PL/SQL variables.
For each item in the SELECT list, there must be a corresponding, type-compatible
variable in the INTO list. The following example illustrates the concept. Let us create a
table named CUSTOMERS −

(For SQL statements, please refer to the SQL tutorial)

CREATE TABLE CUSTOMERS(

ID INT NOT NULL,
NAME VARCHAR (20) NOT
NULL, AGE INT NOT NULL,
ADDRESS CHAR (25),
SALARY DECIMAL (18,
2), PRIMARY KEY (ID)
);

Table
Created

Let us now insert some values in the table −

INSERT INTO CUSTOMERS

(ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY)
VALUES (1, 'Ramesh', 32, 'Ahmedabad', 2000.00

INSERT INTO CUSTOMERS

(ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY)
VALUES (2, 'Khilan', 25, 'Delhi', 1500.00 );

INSERT INTO CUSTOMERS

(ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY)

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VALUES (3, 'kaushik', 23, 'Kota', 2000.00 );

INSERT INTO CUSTOMERS (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY)

VALUES (4, 'Chaitali', 25, 'Mumbai', 6500.00 );

INSERT INTO CUSTOMERS (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY)

VALUES (5, 'Hardik', 27, 'Bhopal', 8500.00 );

INSERT INTO CUSTOMERS (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY)

VALUES (6, 'Komal', 22, 'MP', 4500.00 );

The following program assigns values from the above table to PL/SQL variables using the
SELECT INTO clause of SQL −

DECLARE
c_id [Link]%type := 1;
c_name [Link]%type;
c_addr [Link]%type;
c_sal [Link]%type;
BEGIN
SELECT name, address, salary INTO c_name, c_addr,
c_sal FROM customers
WHERE id = c_id;
dbms_output.put_line
('Customer ' ||c_name || ' from ' || c_addr || ' earns ' ||
c_sal); END;
/

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

Customer Ramesh from Ahmedabad earns 2000

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PL/SQL - Procedures
In this chapter, we will discuss Procedures in PL/SQL. A subprogram is a program
unit/module that performs a particular task. These subprograms are combined to form
larger programs. This is basically called the 'Modular design'. A subprogram can be
invoked by another subprogram or program which is called the calling program.

A subprogram can be created −

At the schema level

Inside a package
Inside a PL/SQL block

At the schema level, subprogram is a standalone subprogram. It is created with the

CREATE PROCEDURE or the CREATE FUNCTION statement. It is stored in the database
and can be deleted with the DROP PROCEDURE or DROP FUNCTION statement.

A subprogram created inside a package is a packaged subprogram. It is stored in the

database and can be deleted only when the package is deleted with the DROP PACKAGE
statement. We will discuss packages in the chapter 'PL/SQL - Packages'.

PL/SQL subprograms are named PL/SQL blocks that can be invoked with a set of
parameters. PL/SQL provides two kinds of subprograms −

Functions − These subprograms return a single value; mainly used to compute

and return a value.

Procedures − These subprograms do not return a value directly; mainly used to

perform an action.

This chapter is going to cover important aspects of a PL/SQL procedure. We will

discuss PL/SQL function in the next chapter.

Parts of a PL/SQL Subprogram

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Each PL/SQL subprogram has a name, and may also have a parameter list. Like
anonymous PL/SQL blocks, the named blocks will also have the following three parts −

[Link] Parts & Description

Declarative Part
It is an optional part. However, the declarative part for a subprogram does not
start with the DECLARE keyword. It contains declarations of types, cursors,
constants, variables, exceptions, and nested subprograms. These items are local
1 to the subprogram and cease to exist when the subprogram completes

execution.

Executable Part
This is a mandatory part and contains statements that perform the designated
2
action.

Exception-handling
This is again an optional part. It contains the code that handles run-time errors.
3

Creating a Procedure
A procedure is created with the CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE statement. The
simplified syntax for the CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE statement is as follows −

CREATE [OR REPLACE] PROCEDURE procedure_name

[(parameter_name [IN | OUT | IN OUT] type [, ...])]
{IS | AS}
BEGIN
< procedure_body >
END procedure_name;

Where,

procedure-name specifies the name of the procedure.

[OR REPLACE] option allows the modification of an existing procedure.

The optional parameter list contains name, mode and types of the parameters.
IN represents the value that will be passed from outside and OUT represents the
parameter that will be used to return a value outside of the procedure.

procedure-body contains the executable part.

The AS keyword is used instead of the IS keyword for creating a standalone
procedure.

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Example

The following example creates a simple procedure that displays the string 'Hello World!'
on the screen when executed.

CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE

greetings AS
BEGIN
dbms_output.put_line('Hello World!');
END;
/

When the above code is executed using the SQL prompt, it will produce the following
result −

Procedure created.

Executing a Standalone Procedure

A standalone procedure can be called in two ways −

Using the EXECUTE keyword

Calling the name of the procedure from a PL/SQL block

The above procedure named 'greetings' can be called with the EXECUTE keyword as −

EXECUTE greetings;

The above call will display −

Hello
World

PL/SQL procedure successfully

completed.

The procedure can also be called from another PL/SQL block −

BEGIN
greetings;

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END;
/

The above call will display −

Hello
World

PL/SQL procedure successfully

completed.
Deleting a Standalone Procedure
A standalone procedure is deleted with the DROP PROCEDURE statement. Syntax for
deleting a procedure is −

DROP PROCEDURE procedure-name;

You can drop the greetings procedure by using the following statement −

DROP PROCEDURE greetings;

Parameter Modes in PL/SQL Subprograms

The following table lists out the parameter modes in PL/SQL subprograms −

[Link] Parameter Mode & Description

IN
An IN parameter lets you pass a value to the subprogram. It is a read-only
parameter. Inside the subprogram, an IN parameter acts like a constant. It
cannot be assigned a value. You can pass a constant, literal, initialized variable, or
expression as an IN parameter. You can also initialize it to a default value;
1 however, in that case, it is omitted from the subprogram call. It is the default
mode of parameter passing. Parameters are passed by reference.

OUT
An OUT parameter returns a value to the calling program. Inside the
subprogram, an OUT parameter acts like a variable. You can change its value
and reference the value after assigning it. The actual parameter must be
2
variable and it is passed by value.

3 IN OUT

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An IN OUT parameter passes an initial value to a subprogram and returns an

updated value to the caller. It can be assigned a value and the value can be
read.
The actual parameter corresponding to an IN OUT formal parameter must be a
variable, not a constant or an expression. Formal parameter must be assigned a
value. Actual parameter is passed by value.

IN & OUT Mode Example 1

This program finds the minimum of two values. Here, the procedure takes two numbers
using the IN mode and returns their minimum using the OUT parameters.

DECLARE
a number;
b number;
c number;
PROCEDURE findMin(x IN number, y IN number, z OUT number)
IS BEGIN
IF x < y THEN
z:= x;
ELSE
z:= y;
END IF;
END;
BEGIN
a:= 23;
b:= 45;
findMin(a, b, c);
dbms_output.put_line(' Minimum of (23, 45) : ' ||
c); END;
/

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the following result −

Minimum of (23, 45) :

23

PL/SQL procedure successfully

completed.

IN & OUT Mode Example 2

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This procedure computes the square of value of a passed value. This example shows how
we can use the same parameter to accept a value and then return another result.

DECLARE
a number;
PROCEDURE squareNum(x IN OUT number) IS
BEGIN
x := x *
x; END;
BEGIN
a:= 23;
squareNum(a);
dbms_output.put_line(' Square of (23): ' ||
a); END;
/

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the following result −

Square of (23):
529

PL/SQL procedure successfully

completed.
Methods for Passing Parameters
Actual parameters can be passed in three ways −

Positional notation

Named notation
Mixed notation

Positional Notation

In positional notation, you can call the procedure as −

findMin(a, b, c, d);

In positional notation, the first actual parameter is substituted for the first formal
parameter; the second actual parameter is substituted for the second formal parameter,

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and so on. So, a is substituted for x, b is substituted for y, c is substituted for z and d is
substituted for m.

Named Notation

In named notation, the actual parameter is associated with the formal parameter using
the arrow symbol ( => ). The procedure call will be like the following −

findMin(x => a, y => b, z => c, m =>

d);

Mixed Notation
In mixed notation, you can mix both notations in procedure call; however, the positional
notation should precede the named notation.

The following call is legal −

findMin(a, b, c, m =>
d);

However, this is not legal:

findMin(x => a, b, c,
d);

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PL/SQL - Functions
In this chapter, we will discuss the functions in PL/SQL. A function is same as a
procedure except that it returns a value. Therefore, all the discussions of the previous
chapter are true for functions too.

Creating a Function
A standalone function is created using the CREATE FUNCTION statement. The
simplified syntax for the CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE statement is as follows −

CREATE [OR REPLACE] FUNCTION function_name

[(parameter_name [IN | OUT | IN OUT] type [, ...])]
RETURN return_datatype
{IS | AS}
BEGIN
< function_body
> END
[function_name];

Where,

function-name specifies the name of the function.

[OR REPLACE] option allows the modification of an existing function.

The optional parameter list contains name, mode and types of the parameters. IN
represents the value that will be passed from outside and OUT represents the
parameter that will be used to return a value outside of the procedure.
The function must contain a return statement.

The RETURN clause specifies the data type you are going to return from the
function.

function-body contains the executable part.

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The AS keyword is used instead of the IS keyword for creating a standalone

function.

Example

The following example illustrates how to create and call a standalone function. This
function returns the total number of CUSTOMERS in the customers table.

We will use the CUSTOMERS table, which we had created in the PL/SQL Variables chapter
−

Select * from
customers;

+----+----------+-----+-----------+------------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+------------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedaba| 2000.00 |
d
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
|+----+----------+-----+-----------+------------+
6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION

totalCustomers
RETURN number IS
total number(2) := 0;
BEGIN
SELECT count(*) into total
FROM customers;

RETURN
total;
END;
/

When the above code is executed using the SQL prompt, it will produce the following
result −

Function created.

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Calling a Function
While creating a function, you give a definition of what the function has to do. To use a
function, you will have to call that function to perform the defined task. When a program
calls a function, the program control is transferred to the called function.

A called function performs the defined task and when its return statement is executed or
when the last end statement is reached, it returns the program control back to the
main program.

To call a function, you simply need to pass the required parameters along with the
function name and if the function returns a value, then you can store the returned value.
Following program calls the function totalCustomers from an anonymous block −

DECLARE
c
number(2);
BEGIN
c := totalCustomers();
dbms_output.put_line('Total no. of Customers: '
|| c); END;
/

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the following result −

Total no. of Customers: 6

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PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Example

The following example demonstrates Declaring, Defining, and Invoking a Simple PL/SQL
Function that computes and returns the maximum of two values.

DECLARE
a number;
b number;
c number;
FUNCTION findMax(x IN number, y IN number)
RETURN number
IS
z number;
BEGIN
IF x > y THEN
z:= x;
ELSE
Z:= y;
END IF;
RETURN z;
END;
BEGIN
a:= 23;
b:= 45;
c := findMax(a, b);
dbms_output.put_line(' Maximum of (23,45): ' ||
c); END;
/

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the following result −

Maximum of (23,45):
45

PL/SQL procedure successfully

completed.

PL/SQL Recursive Functions

We have seen that a program or subprogram may call another subprogram. When a
subprogram calls itself, it is referred to as a recursive call and the process is known as

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recursion.

To illustrate the concept, let us calculate the factorial of a number. Factorial of a number
n is defined as −

n! = n*(n-1)!
= n*(n-1)*(n-2)!
...
= n*(n-1)*(n-2)*(n-3)... 1

The following program calculates the factorial of a given number by calling itself
recursively −

DECLARE
num number;
factorial
number;

FUNCTION fact(x number)

RETURN number
IS
f number;
BEGIN
IF x=0
THEN f
:= 1;
ELSE
f := x * fact(x-
1); END IF;
RETURN f;

BEGIN
num:= 6;
factorial := fact(num);
dbms_output.put_line(' Factorial '|| num || ' is ' ||
factorial); END;
/

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the following result −

Factorial 6 is 720

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PL/SQL - Cursors
In this chapter, we will discuss the cursors in PL/SQL. Oracle creates a memory area,
known as the context area, for processing an SQL statement, which contains all the
information needed for processing the statement; for example, the number of rows
processed, etc.

A cursor is a pointer to this context area. PL/SQL controls the context area through a
cursor. A cursor holds the rows (one or more) returned by a SQL statement. The set of
rows the cursor holds is referred to as the active set.

You can name a cursor so that it could be referred to in a program to fetch and process
the rows returned by the SQL statement, one at a time. There are two types of cursors −

Implicit cursors

Explicit cursors

Implicit Cursors
Implicit cursors are automatically created by Oracle whenever an SQL statement is
executed, when there is no explicit cursor for the statement. Programmers cannot
control the implicit cursors and the information in it.

Whenever a DML statement (INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE) is issued, an implicit cursor is
associated with this statement. For INSERT operations, the cursor holds the data that needs
to be inserted. For UPDATE and DELETE operations, the cursor identifies the rows
that would be affected.

In PL/SQL, you can refer to the most recent implicit cursor as the SQL cursor, which
always has attributes such as %FOUND, %ISOPEN, %NOTFOUND, and
%ROWCOUNT. The SQL cursor has additional attributes, %BULK_ROWCOUNT and
%BULK_EXCEPTIONS, designed for use with the FORALL statement. The following
table provides the description of the most used attributes −

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[Link] Attribute & Description

%FOUND
Returns TRUE if an INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement affected one or
1
more rows or a SELECT INTO statement returned one or more rows. Otherwise, it
returns FALSE.

%NOTFOUND
The logical opposite of %FOUND. It returns TRUE if an INSERT, UPDATE, or
2
DELETE statement affected no rows, or a SELECT INTO statement returned no
rows. Otherwise, it returns FALSE.

%ISOPEN
3 Always returns FALSE for implicit cursors, because Oracle closes the SQL cursor
automatically after executing its associated SQL statement.

%ROWCOUNT
4 Returns the number of rows affected by an INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE
statement, or returned by a SELECT INTO statement.

Any SQL cursor attribute will be accessed as sql%attribute_name as shown below in

the example.

Example

We will be using the CUSTOMERS table we had created and used in the previous
chapters.

Select * from
customers;

+----+----------+-----+-----------+------------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+------------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedaba | 2000.00 |
d
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali| 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
|+----+----------+-----+-----------+------------+
6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |

The following program will update the table and increase the salary of each customer by
500 and use the SQL%ROWCOUNT attribute to determine the number of rows affected
−

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DECLARE
total_rows number(2);
BEGIN
UPDATE customers
SET salary = salary + 500;
IF sql%notfound THEN
dbms_output.put_line('no customers selected');
ELSIF sql%found THEN
total_rows := sql%rowcount;
dbms_output.put_line( total_rows || ' customers selected
'); END IF;
END;
/

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the following result −

6 customers
selected

PL/SQL procedure successfully

completed.

If you check the records in customers table, you will find that the rows have been
updated −

Select * from
customers;

+----+----------+-----+-----------+------------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+------------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedaba | 2500.00 |
d
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 2000.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2500.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali| 25 | Mumbai | 7000.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 9000.00 |
|+----+----------+-----+-----------+------------+
6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 5000.00 |

Explicit Cursors
Explicit cursors are programmer-defined cursors for gaining more control over the
context area. An explicit cursor should be defined in the declaration section of the

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PL/SQL Block. It is created on a SELECT Statement which returns more than one row.

The syntax for creating an explicit cursor is −

CURSOR cursor_name IS select_statement;

Working with an explicit cursor includes the following steps −

Declaring the cursor for initializing the memory

Opening the cursor for allocating the memory
Fetching the cursor for retrieving the data
Closing the cursor to release the allocated memory

Declaring the Cursor

Declaring the cursor defines the cursor with a name and the associated SELECT
statement. For example −

CURSOR c_customers IS
SELECT id, name, address FROM customers;

Opening the Cursor

Opening the cursor allocates the memory for the cursor and makes it ready for fetching
the rows returned by the SQL statement into it. For example, we will open the above
defined cursor as follows −

OPEN c_customers;

Fetching the Cursor

Fetching the cursor involves accessing one row at a time. For example, we will fetch rows
from the above-opened cursor as follows −

FETCH c_customers INTO c_id, c_name, c_addr;

Closing the Cursor

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Closing the cursor means releasing the allocated memory. For example, we will close the
above-opened cursor as follows −

CLOSE c_customers;

Example

Following is a complete example to illustrate the concepts of explicit cursors &minua;

DECLARE
c_id [Link]%type;
c_name [Link]%type;
c_addr [Link]%type;
CURSOR c_customers is
SELECT id, name, address FROM customers;
BEGIN
OPEN c_customers;
LOOP
FETCH c_customers into c_id, c_name,
c_addr; EXIT WHEN c_customers%notfound;
dbms_output.put_line(c_id || ' ' || c_name || ' ' ||
c_addr); END LOOP;
CLOSE
c_customers; END;
/

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the following result −

1 Ramesh Ahmedabad
2 Khilan Delhi
3 kaushik Kota
4 Chaitali Mumbai
5 Hardik Bhopal
6 Komal MP

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

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PL/SQL - Triggers
In this chapter, we will discuss Triggers in PL/SQL. Triggers are stored programs, which
are automatically executed or fired when some events occur. Triggers are, in fact, written
to be executed in response to any of the following events −

A database manipulation (DML) statement (DELETE, INSERT, or UPDATE) A

database definition (DDL) statement (CREATE, ALTER, or DROP).

A database operation (SERVERERROR, LOGON, LOGOFF, STARTUP, or
SHUTDOWN).

Triggers can be defined on the table, view, schema, or database with which the event is
associated.

Benefits of Triggers

Triggers can be written for the following purposes −

Generating some derived column values automatically

Enforcing referential integrity

Event logging and storing information on table access

Auditing

Synchronous replication of tables

Imposing security authorizations
Preventing invalid transactions

Creating Triggers
The syntax for creating a trigger is −

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CREATE [OR REPLACE ] TRIGGER trigger_name

{BEFORE | AFTER | INSTEAD OF }
{INSERT [OR] | UPDATE [OR] | DELETE}
[OF col_name]
ON table_name
[REFERENCING OLD AS o NEW AS
n] [FOR EACH ROW]
WHEN (condition)
DECLARE
Declaration-statements
BEGIN
Executable-statements
EXCEPTION
Exception-handling-
statements END;

Where,

CREATE [OR REPLACE] TRIGGER trigger_name − Creates or replaces an existing

trigger with the trigger_name.

{BEFORE | AFTER | INSTEAD OF} − This specifies when the trigger will be
executed. The INSTEAD OF clause is used for creating trigger on a view.

{INSERT [OR] | UPDATE [OR] | DELETE} − This specifies the DML operation.
[OF col_name] − This specifies the column name that will be updated.

[ON table_name] − This specifies the name of the table associated with the
trigger.

[REFERENCING OLD AS o NEW AS n] − This allows you to refer new and old
values for various DML statements, such as INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE.

[FOR EACH ROW] − This specifies a row-level trigger, i.e., the trigger will be
executed for each row being affected. Otherwise the trigger will execute just once
when the SQL statement is executed, which is called a table level trigger.
WHEN (condition) − This provides a condition for rows for which the trigger would
fire. This clause is valid only for row-level triggers.

Example

To start with, we will be using the CUSTOMERS table we had created and used in the
previous chapters −

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Select * from
customers;

+----+----------+-----+-----------+------------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
|+----+----------+-----+-----------+------------+
1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedaba| 2000.00 |
d
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+------------+

The following program creates a row-level trigger for the customers table that would
fire for INSERT or UPDATE or DELETE operations performed on the CUSTOMERS table.
This trigger will display the salary difference between the old values and new values −

CREATE OR REPLACE TRIGGER

display_salary_changes BEFORE DELETE OR
INSERT OR UPDATE ON customers FOR EACH ROW
WHEN ([Link] > 0)
DECLARE
sal_diff number;
BEGIN
sal_diff := :[Link] - :[Link];
dbms_output.put_line('Old salary: ' || :[Link]);
dbms_output.put_line('New salary: ' || :[Link]);
dbms_output.put_line('Salary difference: ' ||
sal_diff); END;
/

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the following result −

Trigger created.

The following points need to be considered here −

OLD and NEW references are not available for table-level triggers, rather you can
use them for record-level triggers.

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If you want to query the table in the same trigger, then you should use the AFTER
keyword, because triggers can query the table or change it again only after the
initial changes are applied and the table is back in a consistent state.

The above trigger has been written in such a way that it will fire before any
DELETE or INSERT or UPDATE operation on the table, but you can write your trigger
on a single or multiple operations, for example BEFORE DELETE, which will fire
whenever a record will be deleted using the DELETE operation on the table.

Triggering a Trigger
Let us perform some DML operations on the CUSTOMERS table. Here is one INSERT
statement, which will create a new record in the table −

INSERT INTO CUSTOMERS (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY)

VALUES (7, 'Kriti', 22, 'HP', 7500.00 );

When a record is created in the CUSTOMERS table, the above create trigger,
display_salary_changes will be fired and it will display the following result −

Old salary:
New salary: 7500
Salary difference:

Because this is a new record, old salary is not available and the above result comes as
null. Let us now perform one more DML operation on the CUSTOMERS table. The UPDATE
statement will update an existing record in the table −

UPDATE customers
SET salary = salary + 500
WHERE id = 2;

When a record is updated in the CUSTOMERS table, the above create trigger,
display_salary_changes will be fired and it will display the following result −

Old salary: 1500

New salary: 2000
Salary difference: 500

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