PL/SQL is a combination of SQL along with the procedural features of programming languages.

It was
developed by Oracle Corporation in the early 90's to enhance the capabilities of SQL. PL/SQL is one of
three key programming languages embedded in the Oracle Database, along with SQL itself and Java.
This tutorial will give you great understanding on PL/SQL to proceed with Oracle database and other
advanced RDBMS concepts.

Before proceeding with this tutorial, you should have a basic understanding of software basic concepts
like what is database, source code, text editor and execution of programs, etc. If you already have an
understanding on SQL and other computer programming language, then it will be an added advantage
to proceed.

The PL/SQL programming language was developed by Oracle Corporation in

the late 1980s as procedural extension language for SQL and the Oracle
relational database. Following are certain notable facts about PL/SQL −
 PL/SQL is a completely portable, high-performance transaction-processing language.
 PL/SQL provides a built-in, interpreted and OS independent programming environment.
 PL/SQL can also directly be called from the command-line SQL*Plus interface.
 Direct call can also be made from external programming language calls to database.
 PL/SQL's general syntax is based on that of ADA and Pascal programming language.
 Apart from Oracle, PL/SQL is available in TimesTen in-memory database and IBM DB2.

Features of PL/SQL
PL/SQL has the following features −

 PL/SQL is tightly integrated with SQL.

 It offers extensive error checking.

 It offers numerous data types.

 It offers a variety of programming structures.

 It supports structured programming through functions and procedures.

 It supports object-oriented programming.

 It supports the development of web applications and server pages.

Advantages of PL/SQL
PL/SQL has the following advantages −
 SQL is the standard database language and PL/SQL is strongly integrated with SQL. PL/SQL
supports both static and dynamic SQL. Static SQL supports DML operations and transaction control
from PL/SQL block. In Dynamic SQL, SQL allows embedding DDL statements in PL/SQL blocks.
 PL/SQL allows sending an entire block of statements to the database at one time. This reduces
network traffic and provides high performance for the applications.
 PL/SQL gives high productivity to programmers as it can query, transform, and update data in a
database.
 PL/SQL saves time on design and debugging by strong features, such as exception handling,
encapsulation, data hiding, and object-oriented data types.
 Applications written in PL/SQL are fully portable.
 PL/SQL provides high security level.
 PL/SQL provides access to predefined SQL packages.
 PL/SQL provides support for Object-Oriented Programming.
 PL/SQL provides support for developing Web Applications and Server Pages.

In this chapter, we will discuss the Environment Setup of PL/SQL. PL/SQL is

not a standalone programming language; it is a tool within the Oracle
programming environment. SQL* Plus is an interactive tool that allows you
to type SQL and PL/SQL statements at the command prompt. These
commands are then sent to the database for processing. Once the
statements are processed, the results are sent back and displayed on
screen.
 To run PL/SQL programs, you should have the Oracle RDBMS Server
installed in your machine. This will take care of the execution of the
SQL commands

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 –

Declarations

This section starts with the keyword DECLARE. It is an optional section and 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 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

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;

The 'Hello World' Example

DECLARE

message varchar2(20):= 'Hello, World!';

BEGIN

dbms_output.put_line(message);

END;

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 −

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!';

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

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.

Scalar:

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

Large Object (LOB)

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

Composite:

Data items that have internal components that can be accessed individually. For example, collections
and records.
Reference
Pointers to other data items.

PL/SQL Scalar Data Types and Subtypes

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

Numeric
Numeric values on which arithmetic operations are performed.
Character
Alphanumeric values that represent single characters or strings of
characters.
Boolean
Logical values on which logical operations are performed.

Datetime
Dates and times.

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.
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, datatypemust 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;
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 NULLvalue 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);

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 Globalvariables 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;

 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 Variable num2: 185

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)

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 customers.id%type := 1;

c_name customers.name%type;

c_addr customers.address%type;

c_sal customers.salary%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

PL/SQL procedure completed successfully

A constant holds a value that once declared, does not change in the program. A constant declaration
specifies its name, data type, and value, and allocates storage for it. The declaration can also impose
the NOT NULL constraint.

Declaring a Constant
A constant is declared using the CONSTANT keyword. It requires an initial
value and does not allow that value to be changed. For example −
PI CONSTANT NUMBER := 3.141592654;

DECLARE

-- constant declaration

pi constant number := 3.141592654;

-- other declarations

radius number(5,2);

dia number(5,2);

circumference number(7, 2);

area number (10, 2);

BEGIN

-- processing

radius := 9.5;

dia := radius * 2;

circumference := 2.0 * pi * radius;

area := pi * radius * radius;

-- output

dbms_output.put_line('Radius: ' || radius);

dbms_output.put_line('Diameter: ' || dia);

dbms_output.put_line('Circumference: ' || circumference);

dbms_output.put_line('Area: ' || area);

END;

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the
following result −
Radius: 9.5
Diameter: 19
Circumference: 59.69
Area: 283.53

Pl/SQL procedure successfully completed.

The PL/SQL Literals
A literal is an explicit numeric, character, string, or Boolean value not
represented by an identifier. For example, TRUE, 786, NULL, 'tutorialspoint'
are all literals of type Boolean, number, or string. PL/SQL, literals are case-
sensitive. PL/SQL supports the following kinds of literals −

 Numeric Literals

 Character Literals

 String Literals

 BOOLEAN Literals

 Date and Time Literals

The following table provides examples from all these categories of

literal values.
S.No Literal Type & Example

Numeric Literals

050 78 -14 0 +32767

1
6.6667 0.0 -12.0 3.14159 +7800.00

6E5 1.0E-8 3.14159e0 -1E38 -9.5e-3

Character Literals
2
'A' '%' '9' ' ' 'z' '('

String Literals

'Hello, world!'
3
'Tutorials Point'

'19-NOV-12'

BOOLEAN Literals
4
TRUE, FALSE, and NULL.

5 Date and Time Literals

 DATE '1978-12-25';

TIMESTAMP '2012-10-29 12:01:01';

To embed single quotes within a string literal, place two single quotes next
to each other as shown in the following program −
DECLARE

message varchar2(30):= 'That''s tutorialspoint.com!';

BEGIN

dbms_output.put_line(message);

END;

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the
following result −
That's tutorialspoint.com!

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

PL/SQL language is rich in built-in operators and provides the following types of operators −

 Arithmetic operators

 Relational operators

 Comparison operators

 Logical operators

 String operators

Here, we will understand the arithmetic, relational, comparison and logical operators one by one. The
String operators will be discussed in a later chapter − PL/SQL - Strings.

Arithmetic Operators
Following table shows all the arithmetic operators supported by PL/SQL. Let
us assume variable A holds 10 and variable Bholds 5, then −
Show Examples
Operator Description Example

+ Adds two operands A + B will give

 15

- Subtracts second operand from the A - B will give 5

first

* Multiplies both operands A * B will give

50

/ Divides numerator by de-numerator A / B will give 2

** Exponentiation operator, raises one A ** B will give

operand to the power of other 100000

Relational Operators
Relational operators compare two expressions or values and return a
Boolean result. Following table shows all the relational operators supported
by PL/SQL. Let us assume variable A holds 10 and variable B holds 20,
then −

Operator Description Example

Checks if the values of two operands are (A = B) is

= equal or not, if yes then condition not true.
becomes true.

!=
Checks if the values of two operands are
<> (A != B) is
equal or not, if values are not equal then
true.
condition becomes true.
~=

Checks if the value of left operand is (A > B) is

> greater than the value of right operand, not true.
if yes then condition becomes true.

Checks if the value of left operand is less (A < B) is

< than the value of right operand, if yes true.
then condition becomes true.

Checks if the value of left operand is (A >= B) is

greater than or equal to the value of not true.
>=
right operand, if yes then condition
becomes true.
 Checks if the value of left operand is less (A <= B) is
than or equal to the value of right tru
<=
operand, if yes then condition becomes
true.

Comparison Operators
Comparison operators are used for comparing one expression to another.
The result is always either TRUE, FALSE or NULL.
Show Examples
Operator Description Example

The LIKE operator compares a If 'Zara Ali' like 'Z%

character, string, or CLOB A_i' returns a Boolean
value to a pattern and returns true, whereas, 'Nuha
LIKE
TRUE if the value matches the Ali' like 'Z% A_i'
pattern and FALSE if it does returns a Boolean
not. false.

If x = 10 then, x
The BETWEEN operator tests between 5 and 20
whether a value lies in a returns true, x
BETWEEN specified range. x BETWEEN a between 5 and 10
AND b means that x >= a and returns true, but x
x <= b. between 11 and 20
returns false.

If x = 'm' then, x in
The IN operator tests set
('a', 'b', 'c') returns
membership. x IN (set)
IN Boolean false but x in
means that x is equal to any
('m', 'n', 'o') returns
member of set.
Boolean true.

The IS NULL operator returns

the BOOLEAN value TRUE if
If x = 'm', then 'x is
its operand is NULL or FALSE
IS NULL null' returns Boolean
if it is not NULL. Comparisons
false.
involving NULL values always
yield NULL.

Logical Operators
Following table shows the Logical operators supported by PL/SQL. All these
operators work on Boolean operands and produce Boolean results. Let us
assume variable A holds true and variable B holds false, then −
Show Examples
Operator Description Examples

Called the logical AND operator. If both (A and B) is

and the operands are true then condition false.
becomes true.

Called the logical OR Operator. If any of (A or B) is

or the two operands is true then condition true.
becomes true.

Called the logical NOT Operator. Used to not (A and

reverse the logical state of its operand. B) is true.
not
If a condition is true then Logical NOT
operator will make it false.

PL/SQL Operator Precedence

Operator precedence determines the grouping of terms in an expression.
This affects how an expression is evaluated. Certain operators have higher
precedence than others; for example, the multiplication operator has higher
precedence than the addition operator.
For example, x = 7 + 3 * 2; here, x is assigned 13, not 20 because
operator * has higher precedence than +, so it first gets multiplied
with 3*2 and then adds into 7.
Here, operators with the highest precedence appear at the top of the table,
those with the lowest appear at the bottom. Within an expression, higher
precedence operators will be evaluated first.
The precedence of operators goes as follows: =, <, >, <=, >=, <>, !=,
~=, ^=, IS NULL, LIKE, BETWEEN, IN.
Show Examples
Operator Operation

** exponentiation

+, - identity, negation

*, / multiplication, division

+, -, || addition, subtraction, concatenation

 comparison

NOT logical negation

AND conjunction

OR inclusion

Decision-making structures require that the programmer specify one or more conditions to be
evaluated or tested by the program, along with a statement or statements to be executed if the
condition is determined to be true, and optionally, other statements to be executed if the condition is
determined to be false.

Following is the general form of a typical conditional (i.e., decision making) structure found in most
of the programming languages –

PL/SQL programming language provides following types of decision-making

statements. Click the following links to check their detail.
S.No Statement & Description

1 IF - THEN statement
 The IF statement associates a condition with a sequence
of statements enclosed by the keywords THEN and END
IF. If the condition is true, the statements get executed
and if the condition is false or NULL then the IF statement
does nothing.

IF-THEN-ELSE statement

IF statement adds the keyword ELSE followed by an

2 alternative sequence of statement. If the condition is false
or NULL, then only the alternative sequence of statements
get executed. It ensures that either of the sequence of
statements is executed.

IF-THEN-ELSIF statement
3
It allows you to choose between several alternatives.

Case statement

Like the IF statement, the CASE statement selects one

sequence of statements to execute.
4
However, to select the sequence, the CASE statement uses
a selector rather than multiple Boolean expressions. A
selector is an expression whose value is used to select one
of several alternatives.

Searched CASE statement

5 The searched CASE statement has no selector, and it's

WHEN clauses contain search conditions that yield Boolean
values.

nested IF-THEN-ELSE

6
You can use one IF-THEN or IF-THEN-ELSIFstatement
inside another IF-THEN or IF-THEN-ELSIFstatement(s).

There may be a situation when you need to execute a block of code several number of times. In
general, statements are executed sequentially: The first statement in a function is executed first,
followed by the second, and so on.
Programming languages provide various control structures that allow for
more complicated execution paths.
A loop statement allows us to execute a statement or group of statements
multiple times and following is the general form of a loop statement in most
of the programming languages −

PL/SQL provides the following types of loop to handle the looping

requirements. Click the following links to check their detail.
S.No Loop Type & Description

PL/SQL Basic LOOP

In this loop structure, sequence of statements is enclosed

1
between the LOOP and the END LOOP statements. At each
iteration, the sequence of statements is executed and then
control resumes at the top of the loop.

PL/SQL WHILE LOOP

2 Repeats a statement or group of statements while a given

condition is true. It tests the condition before executing
the loop body.
 PL/SQL FOR LOOP

3
Execute a sequence of statements multiple times and
abbreviates the code that manages the loop variable.

Nested loops in PL/SQL

4
You can use one or more loop inside any another basic
loop, while, or for loop.

Labeling a PL/SQL Loop

PL/SQL loops can be labeled. The label should be enclosed by double angle
brackets (<< and >>) and appear at the beginning of the LOOP statement.
The label name can also appear at the end of the LOOP statement. You may
use the label in the EXIT statement to exit from the loop.
The following program illustrates the concept −
DECLARE

i number(1);

j number(1);

BEGIN

<< outer_loop >>

FOR i IN 1..3 LOOP

<< inner_loop >>

FOR j IN 1..3 LOOP

dbms_output.put_line('i is: '|| i || ' and j is: ' || j);

END loop inner_loop;

END loop outer_loop;

END;

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the
following result −
i is: 1 and j is: 1
i is: 1 and j is: 2
i is: 1 and j is: 3
i is: 2 and j is: 1
i is: 2 and j is: 2
i is: 2 and j is: 3
i is: 3 and j is: 1
i is: 3 and j is: 2
i is: 3 and j is: 3

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

The Loop Control Statements
Loop control statements change execution from its normal sequence. When
execution leaves a scope, all automatic objects that were created in that
scope are destroyed.
PL/SQL supports the following control statements. Labeling loops also help
in taking the control outside a loop. Click the following links to check their
details.
S.No Control Statement & Description

EXIT statement

1
The Exit statement completes the loop and control passes
to the statement immediately after the END LOOP.

CONTINUE statement

2
Causes the loop to skip the remainder of its body and
immediately retest its condition prior to reiterating.

GOTO statement

3
Transfers control to the labeled statement. Though it is not
advised to use the GOTO statement in your program.

The string in PL/SQL is actually a sequence of characters with an optional

size specification. The characters could be numeric, letters, blank, special
characters or a combination of all. PL/SQL offers three kinds of strings −
 Fixed-length strings − In such strings, programmers specify the length while declaring the
string. The string is right-padded with spaces to the length so specified.
 Variable-length strings − In such strings, a maximum length up to 32,767, for the string is
specified and no padding takes place.
 Character large objects (CLOBs) − These are variable-length strings that can be up to 128
terabytes.

PL/SQL strings could be either variables or literals. A string literal is

enclosed within quotation marks. For example,
'This is a string literal.' Or 'hello world'

To include a single quote inside a string literal, you need to type two single
quotes next to one another. For example,
'this isn''t what it looks like'
Declaring String Variables
Oracle database provides numerous string datatypes, such as CHAR,
NCHAR, VARCHAR2, NVARCHAR2, CLOB, and NCLOB. The datatypes
prefixed with an 'N' are 'national character set'datatypes, that store
Unicode character data.
If you need to declare a variable-length string, you must provide the
maximum length of that string. For example, the VARCHAR2 data type. The
following example illustrates declaring and using some string variables −
DECLARE

name varchar2(20);

company varchar2(30);

introduction clob;

choice char(1);

BEGIN

name := 'John Smith';

company := 'Infotech';

introduction := ' Hello! I''m John Smith from Infotech.';

choice := 'y';

IF choice = 'y' THEN

dbms_output.put_line(name);

dbms_output.put_line(company);

dbms_output.put_line(introduction);

END IF;

END;

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the
following result −
John Smith
Infotech Corporation
Hello! I'm John Smith from Infotech.

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed

To declare a fixed-length string, use the CHAR datatype. Here you do not
have to specify a maximum length for a fixed-length variable. If you leave
off the length constraint, Oracle Database automatically uses a maximum
length required. The following two declarations are identical −
red_flag CHAR(1) := 'Y';
red_flag CHAR := 'Y';

PL/SQL String Functions and Operators

PL/SQL offers the concatenation operator (||) for joining two strings. The
following table provides the string functions provided by PL/SQL −
S.No Function & Purpose

ASCII(x);
1
Returns the ASCII value of the character x.

CHR(x);
2
Returns the character with the ASCII value of x.

CONCAT(x, y);
3
Concatenates the strings x and y and returns the
appended string.

INITCAP(x);
4
Converts the initial letter of each word in x to uppercase
and returns that string.

INSTR(x, find_string [, start] [, occurrence]);

5
Searches for find_string in x and returns the position at
which it occurs.

INSTRB(x);
6
Returns the location of a string within another string, but
returns the value in bytes.

LENGTH(x);
7
Returns the number of characters in x.

LENGTHB(x);
8
Returns the length of a character string in bytes for single
byte character set.

9 LOWER(x);
 Converts the letters in x to lowercase and returns that
string.

LPAD(x, width [, pad_string]) ;

10
Pads x with spaces to the left, to bring the total length of
the string up to width characters.

LTRIM(x [, trim_string]);
11
Trims characters from the left of x.

NANVL(x, value);
12
Returns value if x matches the NaN special value (not a
number), otherwise x is returned.

NLS_INITCAP(x);
13
Same as the INITCAP function except that it can use a
different sort method as specified by NLSSORT.

NLS_LOWER(x) ;
14
Same as the LOWER function except that it can use a
different sort method as specified by NLSSORT.

NLS_UPPER(x);
15
Same as the UPPER function except that it can use a
different sort method as specified by NLSSORT.

NLSSORT(x);

16 Changes the method of sorting the characters. Must be

specified before any NLS function; otherwise, the default
sort will be used.

NVL(x, value);
17
Returns value if x is null; otherwise, x is returned.

18 NVL2(x, value1, value2);

 Returns value1 if x is not null; if x is null, value2 is
returned.

REPLACE(x, search_string, replace_string);

19
Searches x for search_string and replaces it with
replace_string.

RPAD(x, width [, pad_string]);

20
Pads x to the right.

RTRIM(x [, trim_string]);
21
Trims x from the right.

SOUNDEX(x) ;
22
Returns a string containing the phonetic representation
of x.

SUBSTR(x, start [, length]);

23 Returns a substring of x that begins at the position

specified by start. An optional length for the substring may
be supplied.

SUBSTRB(x);

24 Same as SUBSTR except that the parameters are

expressed in bytes instead of characters for the single-
byte character systems.

TRIM([trim_char FROM) x);

25
Trims characters from the left and right of x.

UPPER(x);
26
Converts the letters in x to uppercase and returns that
string.

Let us now work out on a few examples to understand the concept −

Example 1
DECLARE
 greetings varchar2(11) := 'hello world';

BEGIN

dbms_output.put_line(UPPER(greetings));

dbms_output.put_line(LOWER(greetings));

dbms_output.put_line(INITCAP(greetings));

/* retrieve the first character in the string */

dbms_output.put_line ( SUBSTR (greetings, 1, 1));

/* retrieve the last character in the string */

dbms_output.put_line ( SUBSTR (greetings, -1, 1));

/* retrieve five characters,

starting from the seventh position. */

dbms_output.put_line ( SUBSTR (greetings, 7, 5));

/* retrieve the remainder of the string,

starting from the second position. */

dbms_output.put_line ( SUBSTR (greetings, 2));

/* find the location of the first "e" */

dbms_output.put_line ( INSTR (greetings, 'e'));

END;

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the
following result −
HELLO WORLD
hello world
Hello World
h
d
World
ello World
2

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Example 2
DECLARE

greetings varchar2(30) := '......Hello World.....';

BEGIN

dbms_output.put_line(RTRIM(greetings,'.'));

dbms_output.put_line(LTRIM(greetings, '.'));

dbms_output.put_line(TRIM( '.' from greetings));

END;

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

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

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

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 −
S.No Parts & Description

Declarative Part

It is an optional part. However, the declarative part for a

subprogram does not start with the DECLARE keyword. It
1
contains declarations of types, cursors, constants,
variables, exceptions, and nested subprograms. These
items are local to the subprogram and cease to exist when
the subprogram completes execution.

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

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

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.

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;

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 PROCEDUREstatement.
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 −
S.No 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
1 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;
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.

2 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
variable and it is passed by value.

3 IN OUT

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

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, 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);

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 FUNCTIONstatement.
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.
 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 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 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.

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

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 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;

END;

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

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

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 FORALLstatement. The
following table provides the description of the most used attributes −

S.No Attribute & Description

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

2 %NOTFOUND
The logical opposite of %FOUND. It returns TRUE
if an INSERT, UPDATE, or 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 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 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
%ROWCOUNTattribute to determine the number of rows affected −

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 | Ahmedabad | 2500.00 |
| 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 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
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 customers.id%type;

c_name customerS.No.ame%type;

c_addr customers.address%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.

A record is a data structure that can hold data items of different kinds.
Records consist of different fields, similar to a row of a database table.
For example, you want to keep track of your books in a library. You might
want to track the following attributes about each book, such as Title,
Author, Subject, Book ID. A record containing a field for each of these items
allows treating a BOOK as a logical unit and allows you to organize and
represent its information in a better way.
PL/SQL can handle the following types of records −

 Table-based

 Cursor-based records

 User-defined records

Table-Based Records
The %ROWTYPE attribute enables a programmer to create table-
based and cursorbased records.
The following example illustrates the concept of table-basedrecords. We
will be using the CUSTOMERS table we had created and used in the
previous chapters −
DECLARE

customer_rec customers%rowtype;

BEGIN

SELECT * into customer_rec

FROM customers

WHERE id = 5;

dbms_output.put_line('Customer ID: ' || customer_rec.id);

dbms_output.put_line('Customer Name: ' || customer_rec.name);

dbms_output.put_line('Customer Address: ' || customer_rec.address);

dbms_output.put_line('Customer Salary: ' || customer_rec.salary);

END;

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the
following result −
Customer ID: 5
Customer Name: Hardik
Customer Address: Bhopal
Customer Salary: 9000

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Cursor-Based Records
The following example illustrates the concept of cursor-basedrecords. We
will be using the CUSTOMERS table we had created and used in the
previous chapters −
DECLARE

CURSOR customer_cur is

SELECT id, name, address

FROM customers;

customer_rec customer_cur%rowtype;

BEGIN

OPEN customer_cur;

LOOP

FETCH customer_cur into customer_rec;

EXIT WHEN customer_cur%notfound;

DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line(customer_rec.id || ' ' || customer_rec.name);

END LOOP;

END;

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the
following result −
1 Ramesh
2 Khilan
3 kaushik
4 Chaitali
5 Hardik
6 Komal

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

User-Defined Records
PL/SQL provides a user-defined record type that allows you to define the
different record structures. These records consist of different fields.
Suppose you want to keep track of your books in a library. You might want
to track the following attributes about each book −

 Title

 Author

 Subject

 Book ID

Defining a Record
The record type is defined as −
TYPE
type_name IS RECORD
( field_name1 datatype1 [NOT NULL] [:= DEFAULT EXPRESSION],
field_name2 datatype2 [NOT NULL] [:= DEFAULT EXPRESSION],
...
field_nameN datatypeN [NOT NULL] [:= DEFAULT EXPRESSION);
record-name type_name;

The Book record is declared in the following way −

DECLARE

TYPE books IS RECORD

(title varchar(50),

author varchar(50),

subject varchar(100),

book_id number);

book1 books;

book2 books;

Accessing Fields
To access any field of a record, we use the dot (.) operator. The member
access operator is coded as a period between the record variable name and
the field that we wish to access. Following is an example to explain the
usage of record −
DECLARE

type books is record

(title varchar(50),

author varchar(50),

subject varchar(100),

book_id number);

book1 books;

book2 books;

BEGIN

-- Book 1 specification

book1.title := 'C Programming';

book1.author := 'Nuha Ali ';

book1.subject := 'C Programming Tutorial';

book1.book_id := 6495407;

-- Book 2 specification

book2.title := 'Telecom Billing';

book2.author := 'Zara Ali';

book2.subject := 'Telecom Billing Tutorial';

book2.book_id := 6495700;
 -- Print book 1 record

dbms_output.put_line('Book 1 title : '|| book1.title);

dbms_output.put_line('Book 1 author : '|| book1.author);

dbms_output.put_line('Book 1 subject : '|| book1.subject);

dbms_output.put_line('Book 1 book_id : ' || book1.book_id);

-- Print book 2 record

dbms_output.put_line('Book 2 title : '|| book2.title);

dbms_output.put_line('Book 2 author : '|| book2.author);

dbms_output.put_line('Book 2 subject : '|| book2.subject);

dbms_output.put_line('Book 2 book_id : '|| book2.book_id);

END;

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the
following result −
Book 1 title : C Programming
Book 1 author : Nuha Ali
Book 1 subject : C Programming Tutorial
Book 1 book_id : 6495407
Book 2 title : Telecom Billing
Book 2 author : Zara Ali
Book 2 subject : Telecom Billing Tutorial
Book 2 book_id : 6495700

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Records as Subprogram Parameters

You can pass a record as a subprogram parameter just as you pass any
other variable. You can also access the record fields in the same way as you
accessed in the above example −
DECLARE

type books is record

(title varchar(50),

author varchar(50),

subject varchar(100),

book_id number);

book1 books;

book2 books;

PROCEDURE printbook (book books) IS

BEGIN

dbms_output.put_line ('Book title : ' || book.title);

dbms_output.put_line('Book author : ' || book.author);

dbms_output.put_line( 'Book subject : ' || book.subject);

dbms_output.put_line( 'Book book_id : ' || book.book_id);

END;

BEGIN

-- Book 1 specification

book1.title := 'C Programming';

book1.author := 'Nuha Ali ';

book1.subject := 'C Programming Tutorial';

book1.book_id := 6495407;

-- Book 2 specification

book2.title := 'Telecom Billing';

book2.author := 'Zara Ali';

book2.subject := 'Telecom Billing Tutorial';

book2.book_id := 6495700;

-- Use procedure to print book info

printbook(book1);

printbook(book2);

END;

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the
following result −
Book title : C Programming
Book author : Nuha Ali
Book subject : C Programming Tutorial
Book book_id : 6495407
Book title : Telecom Billing
Book author : Zara Ali
Book subject : Telecom Billing Tutorial
Book book_id : 6495700

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

An exception is an error condition during a program execution. PL/SQL
supports programmers to catch such conditions using EXCEPTION block in
the program and an appropriate action is taken against the error condition.
There are two types of exceptions −

 System-defined exceptions

 User-defined exceptions

Syntax for Exception Handling

The general syntax for exception handling is as follows. Here you can list
down as many exceptions as you can handle. The default exception will be
handled using WHEN others THEN −
DECLARE

<declarations section>

BEGIN

<executable command(s)>

EXCEPTION

<exception handling goes here >

WHEN exception1 THEN

exception1-handling-statements

WHEN exception2 THEN

exception2-handling-statements

WHEN exception3 THEN

exception3-handling-statements

........

WHEN others THEN

exception3-handling-statements

END;

Example
Let us write a code to illustrate the concept. We will be using the
CUSTOMERS table we had created and used in the previous chapters −
DECLARE

c_id customers.id%type := 8;

c_name customerS.Name%type;

c_addr customers.address%type;

BEGIN
 SELECT name, address INTO c_name, c_addr

FROM customers

WHERE id = c_id;

DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('Name: '|| c_name);

DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('Address: ' || c_addr);

EXCEPTION

WHEN no_data_found THEN

dbms_output.put_line('No such customer!');

WHEN others THEN

dbms_output.put_line('Error!');

END;

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the
following result −
No such customer!

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

The above program displays the name and address of a customer whose ID
is given. Since there is no customer with ID value 8 in our database, the
program raises the run-time exception NO_DATA_FOUND, which is
captured in the EXCEPTION block.

Raising Exceptions
Exceptions are raised by the database server automatically whenever there
is any internal database error, but exceptions can be raised explicitly by the
programmer by using the command RAISE. Following is the simple syntax
for raising an exception −
DECLARE

exception_name EXCEPTION;

BEGIN

IF condition THEN

RAISE exception_name;

END IF;

EXCEPTION

WHEN exception_name THEN

statement;
END;

You can use the above syntax in raising the Oracle standard exception or
any user-defined exception. In the next section, we will give you an
example on raising a user-defined exception. You can raise the Oracle
standard exceptions in a similar way.

User-defined Exceptions
PL/SQL allows you to define your own exceptions according to the need of
your program. A user-defined exception must be declared and then raised
explicitly, using either a RAISE statement or the
procedure DBMS_STANDARD.RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR.
The syntax for declaring an exception is −
DECLARE
my-exception EXCEPTION;

Example
The following example illustrates the concept. This program asks for a
customer ID, when the user enters an invalid ID, the
exception invalid_id is raised.
DECLARE

c_id customers.id%type := &cc_id;

c_name customerS.Name%type;

c_addr customers.address%type;

-- user defined exception

ex_invalid_id EXCEPTION;

BEGIN

IF c_id <= 0 THEN

RAISE ex_invalid_id;

ELSE

SELECT name, address INTO c_name, c_addr

FROM customers

WHERE id = c_id;

DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('Name: '|| c_name);

DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('Address: ' || c_addr);

END IF;

EXCEPTION
 WHEN ex_invalid_id THEN

dbms_output.put_line('ID must be greater than zero!');

WHEN no_data_found THEN

dbms_output.put_line('No such customer!');

WHEN others THEN

dbms_output.put_line('Error!');

END;

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the
following result −
Enter value for cc_id: -6 (let's enter a value -6)
old 2: c_id customers.id%type := &cc_id;
new 2: c_id customers.id%type := -6;
ID must be greater than zero!

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Pre-defined Exceptions
PL/SQL provides many pre-defined exceptions, which are executed when
any database rule is violated by a program. For example, the predefined
exception NO_DATA_FOUND is raised when a SELECT INTO statement
returns no rows. The following table lists few of the important pre-defined
exceptions −
Oracle
Exception SQLCODE Description
Error

It is raised when a
null object is
ACCESS_INTO_NULL 06530 -6530
automatically
assigned a value.

It is raised when
none of the choices
in the WHEN clause
CASE_NOT_FOUND 06592 -6592 of a CASE
statement is
selected, and there
is no ELSE clause.

COLLECTION_IS_NULL 06531 -6531 It is raised when a

program attempts
to apply collection
methods other than
EXISTS to an
 uninitialized nested
table or varray, or
the program
attempts to assign
values to the
elements of an
uninitialized nested
table or varray.

It is raised when
duplicate values are
DUP_VAL_ON_INDEX 00001 -1 attempted to be
stored in a column
with unique index.

It is raised when
attempts are made
to make a cursor
INVALID_CURSOR 01001 -1001 operation that is not
allowed, such as
closing an unopened
cursor.

It is raised when the

conversion of a
character string into
INVALID_NUMBER 01722 -1722 a number fails
because the string
does not represent
a valid number.

It is raised when a
program attempts
to log on to the
LOGIN_DENIED 01017 -1017
database with an
invalid username or
password.

It is raised when a
SELECT INTO
NO_DATA_FOUND 01403 +100
statement returns
no rows.

It is raised when a
database call is
NOT_LOGGED_ON 01012 -1012 issued without being
connected to the
database.
 It is raised when
PROGRAM_ERROR 06501 -6501 PL/SQL has an
internal problem.

It is raised when a
cursor fetches value
ROWTYPE_MISMATCH 06504 -6504 in a variable having
incompatible data
type.

It is raised when a
member method is
invoked, but the
SELF_IS_NULL 30625 -30625
instance of the
object type was not
initialized.

It is raised when
PL/SQL ran out of
STORAGE_ERROR 06500 -6500
memory or memory
was corrupted.

It is raised when a
SELECT INTO
TOO_MANY_ROWS 01422 -1422
statement returns
more than one row.

It is raised when an
arithmetic,
conversion,
VALUE_ERROR 06502 -6502
truncation, or
sizeconstraint error
occurs.

It is raised when an
attempt is made to
ZERO_DIVIDE 01476 1476
divide a number by
zero.

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 −

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 −

Select * from customers;

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 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 (NEW.ID > 0)

DECLARE

sal_diff number;

BEGIN

sal_diff := :NEW.salary - :OLD.salary;

dbms_output.put_line('Old salary: ' || :OLD.salary);

dbms_output.put_line('New salary: ' || :NEW.salary);

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.
  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

Packages are schema objects that groups logically related PL/SQL types,
variables, and subprograms.
A package will have two mandatory parts −

 Package specification

 Package body or definition

Package Specification
The specification is the interface to the package. It just DECLARES the
types, variables, constants, exceptions, cursors, and subprograms that can
be referenced from outside the package. In other words, it contains all
information about the content of the package, but excludes the code for the
subprograms.
All objects placed in the specification are called public objects. Any
subprogram not in the package specification but coded in the package body
is called a private object.
The following code snippet shows a package specification having a single
procedure. You can have many global variables defined and multiple
procedures or functions inside a package.
CREATE PACKAGE cust_sal AS

PROCEDURE find_sal(c_id customers.id%type);

END cust_sal;

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

Package Body
The package body has the codes for various methods declared in the
package specification and other private declarations, which are hidden from
the code outside the package.
The CREATE PACKAGE BODY Statement is used for creating the package
body. The following code snippet shows the package body declaration for
the cust_sal package created above. I assumed that we already have
CUSTOMERS table created in our database as mentioned in the PL/SQL -
Variables chapter.
CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE BODY cust_sal AS

PROCEDURE find_sal(c_id customers.id%TYPE) IS

c_sal customers.salary%TYPE;

BEGIN

SELECT salary INTO c_sal

FROM customers

WHERE id = c_id;

dbms_output.put_line('Salary: '|| c_sal);

END find_sal;

END cust_sal;
/

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the
following result −
Package body created.

Using the Package Elements

The package elements (variables, procedures or functions) are accessed
with the following syntax −
package_name.element_name;

Consider, we already have created the above package in our database

schema, the following program uses the find_salmethod of
the cust_sal package −
DECLARE

code customers.id%type := &cc_id;

BEGIN

cust_sal.find_sal(code);

END;

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it prompts to enter
the customer ID and when you enter an ID, it displays the corresponding
salary as follows −
Enter value for cc_id: 1
Salary: 3000

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Example
The following program provides a more complete package. We will use the
CUSTOMERS table stored in our database with the following records −
Select * from customers;

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 3000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 3000.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 3000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 7500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 9500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 5500.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

The Package Specification

CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE c_package AS

-- Adds a customer
 PROCEDURE addCustomer(c_id customers.id%type,

c_name customerS.No.ame%type,

c_age customers.age%type,

c_addr customers.address%type,

c_sal customers.salary%type);

-- Removes a customer

PROCEDURE delCustomer(c_id customers.id%TYPE);

--Lists all customers

PROCEDURE listCustomer;

END c_package;

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it creates the above
package and displays the following result −
Package created.

Creating the Package Body

CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE BODY c_package AS

PROCEDURE addCustomer(c_id customers.id%type,

c_name customerS.No.ame%type,

c_age customers.age%type,

c_addr customers.address%type,

c_sal customers.salary%type)

IS

BEGIN

INSERT INTO customers (id,name,age,address,salary)

VALUES(c_id, c_name, c_age, c_addr, c_sal);

END addCustomer;

PROCEDURE delCustomer(c_id customers.id%type) IS

BEGIN

DELETE FROM customers

WHERE id = c_id;

END delCustomer;
 PROCEDURE listCustomer IS

CURSOR c_customers is

SELECT name FROM customers;

TYPE c_list is TABLE OF customerS.No.ame%type;

name_list c_list := c_list();

counter integer :=0;

BEGIN

FOR n IN c_customers LOOP

counter := counter +1;

name_list.extend;

name_list(counter) := n.name;

dbms_output.put_line('Customer(' ||counter|| ')'||name_list(counter));

END LOOP;

END listCustomer;

END c_package;

The above example makes use of the nested table. We will discuss the
concept of nested table in the next chapter.
When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the
following result −
Package body created.

Using The Package

The following program uses the methods declared and defined in the
package c_package.
DECLARE

code customers.id%type:= 8;

BEGIN

c_package.addcustomer(7, 'Rajnish', 25, 'Chennai', 3500);

c_package.addcustomer(8, 'Subham', 32, 'Delhi', 7500);

c_package.listcustomer;

c_package.delcustomer(code);

c_package.listcustomer;
END;

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the
following result −
Customer(1): Ramesh
Customer(2): Khilan
Customer(3): kaushik
Customer(4): Chaitali
Customer(5): Hardik
Customer(6): Komal
Customer(7): Rajnish
Customer(8): Subham
Customer(1): Ramesh
Customer(2): Khilan
Customer(3): kaushik
Customer(4): Chaitali
Customer(5): Hardik
Customer(6): Komal
Customer(7): Rajnish

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed

A collection is an ordered group of elements having the same data type. Each element is identified by
a unique subscript that represents its position in the collection.

PL/SQL provides three collection types −

 Index-by tables or Associative array

 Nested table

 Variable-size array or Varray

Oracle documentation provides the following characteristics for each type of collections −

Can Be
Dense Where
Collection Number of Subscrip Object
or Create
Type Elements t Type Type
Sparse d
Attribute

Associative
Only in
array (or Unbounde String or
Either PL/SQL No
index-by d integer
block
table)

Nested Unbounde Integer Starts Either Yes

table d dense, in
can PL/SQL
becom block
 or at
e
schema
sparse
level

Either
in
Variablesiz PL/SQL
Always
e array Bounded Integer block Yes
dense
(Varray) or at
schema
level

We have already discussed varray in the chapter 'PL/SQL arrays'. In this chapter, we will discuss the PL/SQL tables.

Both types of PL/SQL tables, i.e., the index-by tables and the nested tables have the same structure and their rows are accessed using
the subscript notation. However, these two types of tables differ in one aspect; the nested tables can be stored in a database column and
the index-by tables cannot.

Index-By Table
An index-by table (also called an associative array) is a set of key-value pairs. Each key is unique and is used to locate the
corresponding value. The key can be either an integer or a string.

An index-by table is created using the following syntax. Here, we are creating an index-by table named table_name, the keys of which
will be of the subscript_type and associated values will be of the element_type

TYPE type_name IS TABLE OF element_type [NOT NULL] INDEX BY subscript_type;

table_name type_name;

Example
Following example shows how to create a table to store integer values along with names and later it prints the same list of names.

DECLARE

TYPE salary IS TABLE OF NUMBER INDEX BY VARCHAR2(20);

salary_list salary;

name VARCHAR2(20);

BEGIN

-- adding elements to the table

salary_list('Rajnish') := 62000;

salary_list('Minakshi') := 75000;

salary_list('Martin') := 100000;

salary_list('James') := 78000;
 -- printing the table

name := salary_list.FIRST;

WHILE name IS NOT null LOOP

dbms_output.put_line

('Salary of ' || name || ' is ' || TO_CHAR(salary_list(name)));

name := salary_list.NEXT(name);

END LOOP;

END;

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

Salary of James is 78000

Salary of Martin is 100000
Salary of Minakshi is 75000
Salary of Rajnish is 62000

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Example
Elements of an index-by table could also be a %ROWTYPE of any database table or %TYPE of any database table field. The
following example illustrates the concept. We will use the CUSTOMERS table stored in our database as −

Select * from customers;

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

DECLARE

CURSOR c_customers is

select name from customers;

TYPE c_list IS TABLE of customers.Name%type INDEX BY binary_integer;

name_list c_list;

counter integer :=0;

BEGIN

FOR n IN c_customers LOOP

counter := counter +1;

name_list(counter) := n.name;

dbms_output.put_line('Customer('||counter||'):'||name_lis t(counter));
 END LOOP;

END;

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

Customer(1): Ramesh
Customer(2): Khilan
Customer(3): kaushik
Customer(4): Chaitali
Customer(5): Hardik
Customer(6): Komal

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed

Nested Tables
A nested table is like a one-dimensional array with an arbitrary number of elements. However, a nested table differs from an array in
the following aspects −

 An array has a declared number of elements, but a nested table does not. The size of a nested table can increase dynamically.
 An array is always dense, i.e., it always has consecutive subscripts. A nested array is dense initially, but it can become sparse
when elements are deleted from it.

A nested table is created using the following syntax −

TYPE type_name IS TABLE OF element_type [NOT NULL];

table_name type_name;

This declaration is similar to the declaration of an index-bytable, but there is no INDEX BY clause.

A nested table can be stored in a database column. It can further be used for simplifying SQL operations where you join a single-
column table with a larger table. An associative array cannot be stored in the database.

Example
The following examples illustrate the use of nested table −

DECLARE

TYPE names_table IS TABLE OF VARCHAR2(10);

TYPE grades IS TABLE OF INTEGER;

names names_table;

marks grades;

total integer;

BEGIN

names := names_table('Kavita', 'Pritam', 'Ayan', 'Rishav', 'Aziz');

marks:= grades(98, 97, 78, 87, 92);

total := names.count;

dbms_output.put_line('Total '|| total || ' Students');

FOR i IN 1 .. total LOOP

 dbms_output.put_line('Student:'||names(i)||', Marks:' || marks(i));

end loop;

END;

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

Total 5 Students
Student:Kavita, Marks:98
Student:Pritam, Marks:97
Student:Ayan, Marks:78
Student:Rishav, Marks:87
Student:Aziz, Marks:92

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Example
Elements of a nested table can also be a %ROWTYPE of any database table or %TYPE of any database table field. The following
example illustrates the concept. We will use the CUSTOMERS table stored in our database as −

Select * from customers;

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

DECLARE

CURSOR c_customers is

SELECT name FROM customers;

TYPE c_list IS TABLE of customerS.No.ame%type;

name_list c_list := c_list();

counter integer :=0;

BEGIN

FOR n IN c_customers LOOP

counter := counter +1;

name_list.extend;

name_list(counter) := n.name;

dbms_output.put_line('Customer('||counter||'):'||name_list(counter));

END LOOP;

END;

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the following result −
Customer(1): Ramesh
Customer(2): Khilan
Customer(3): kaushik
Customer(4): Chaitali
Customer(5): Hardik
Customer(6): Komal

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Collection Methods
PL/SQL provides the built-in collection methods that make collections easier to use. The following table lists the methods and their
purpose −

S.No Method Name & Purpose

EXISTS(n)
1
Returns TRUE if the nth element in a collection
exists; otherwise returns FALSE.

COUNT
2
Returns the number of elements that a collection
currently contains.

LIMIT
3
Checks the maximum size of a collection.

FIRST
4
Returns the first (smallest) index numbers in a
collection that uses the integer subscripts.

LAST
5
Returns the last (largest) index numbers in a
collection that uses the integer subscripts.

PRIOR(n)
6
Returns the index number that precedes index n in a
collection.

NEXT(n)
7
Returns the index number that succeeds index n.

8 EXTEND
 Appends one null element to a collection.

EXTEND(n)
9
Appends n null elements to a collection.

EXTEND(n,i)
10
Appends n copies of the ith element to a collection.

TRIM
11
Removes one element from the end of a collection.

TRIM(n)
12
Removes n elements from the end of a collection.

DELETE
13
Removes all elements from a collection, setting
COUNT to 0.

DELETE(n)
Removes the nth element from an associative array
14 with a numeric key or a nested table. If the
associative array has a string key, the element
corresponding to the key value is deleted. If n is
null, DELETE(n) does nothing.

DELETE(m,n)
Removes all elements in the range m..n from an
15
associative array or nested table. If m is larger
than nor if m or n is null, DELETE(m,n) does
nothing.

Collection Exceptions
The following table provides the collection exceptions and when they are raised −

Collection Exception Raised in Situations

COLLECTION_IS_NULL You try to operate on an

 atomically null collection.

A subscript designates an
element that was deleted, or a
NO_DATA_FOUND
nonexistent element of an
associative array.

SUBSCRIPT_BEYOND_COUNT A subscript exceeds the number

of elements in a collection.

SUBSCRIPT_OUTSIDE_LIMIT A subscript is outside the allowed

range.

A subscript is null or not

convertible to the key type. This
exception might occur if the key
VALUE_ERROR
is defined as
a PLS_INTEGER range, and the
subscript is outside this range.

A database transaction is an atomic unit of work that may consist of one or more related SQL
statements. It is called atomic because the database modifications brought about by the SQL
statements that constitute a transaction can collectively be either committed, i.e., made
permanent to the database or rolled back (undone) from the database.
A successfully executed SQL statement and a committed transaction are not same. Even if an
SQL statement is executed successfully, unless the transaction containing the statement is
committed, it can be rolled back and all changes made by the statement(s) can be undone.

Starting and Ending a Transaction

A transaction has a beginning and an end. A transaction starts when one of the following
events take place −
 The first SQL statement is performed after connecting to the database.
 At each new SQL statement issued after a transaction is completed.
A transaction ends when one of the following events take place −
 A COMMIT or a ROLLBACK statement is issued.
 A DDL statement, such as CREATE TABLE statement, is issued; because in that case a
COMMIT is automatically performed.
  A DCL statement, such as a GRANT statement, is issued; because in that case a
COMMIT is automatically performed.
 User disconnects from the database.
 User exits from SQL*PLUS by issuing the EXITcommand, a COMMIT is
automatically performed.
 SQL*Plus terminates abnormally, a ROLLBACK is automatically performed.
 A DML statement fails; in that case a ROLLBACK is automatically performed for
undoing that DML statement.

Committing a Transaction
A transaction is made permanent by issuing the SQL command COMMIT. The general syntax
for the COMMIT command is −
COMMIT;

For example,
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)

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 );

COMMIT;

Rolling Back Transactions

Changes made to the database without COMMIT could be undone using the ROLLBACK
command.
The general syntax for the ROLLBACK command is −
ROLLBACK [TO SAVEPOINT < savepoint_name>];

When a transaction is aborted due to some unprecedented situation, like system failure, the
entire transaction since a commit is automatically rolled back. If you are not using savepoint,
then simply use the following statement to rollback all the changes −
ROLLBACK;

Savepoints
Savepoints are sort of markers that help in splitting a long transaction into smaller units by
setting some checkpoints. By setting savepoints within a long transaction, you can roll back to a
checkpoint if required. This is done by issuing the SAVEPOINTcommand.
The general syntax for the SAVEPOINT command is −
SAVEPOINT < savepoint_name >;

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

VALUES (7, 'Rajnish', 27, 'HP', 9500.00 );

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

VALUES (8, 'Riddhi', 21, 'WB', 4500.00 );

SAVEPOINT sav1;

UPDATE CUSTOMERS

SET SALARY = SALARY + 1000;

ROLLBACK TO sav1;

UPDATE CUSTOMERS

SET SALARY = SALARY + 1000

WHERE ID = 7;

UPDATE CUSTOMERS

SET SALARY = SALARY + 1000

WHERE ID = 8;

COMMIT;

ROLLBACK TO sav1 − This statement rolls back all the changes up to the point, where you
had marked savepoint sav1.
After that, the new changes that you make will start.
Automatic Transaction Control
To execute a COMMIT automatically whenever
an INSERT,UPDATE or DELETE command is executed, you can set
the AUTOCOMMIT environment variable as −
SET AUTOCOMMIT ON;

You can turn-off the auto commit mode using the following command −
SET AUTOCOMMIT OFF;

There are two classes of date and time related data types in PL/SQL −

 Datetime data types

 Interval data types

The Datetime data types are −

 DATE

 TIMESTAMP

 TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE

 TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE

The Interval data types are −

 INTERVAL YEAR TO MONTH

 INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND

Field Values for Datetime and Interval Data

Types
Both datetime and interval data types consist of fields. The values of
these fields determine the value of the data type. The following table lists
the fields and their possible values for datetimes and intervals.
Valid Interval
Field Name Valid Datetime Values
Values

-4712 to 9999 (excluding Any nonzero

YEAR
year 0) integer

MONTH 01 to 12 0 to 11

DAY 01 to 31 (limited by the Any nonzero

values of MONTH and integer
YEAR, according to the
 rules of the calendar for
the locale)

HOUR 00 to 23 0 to 23

MINUTE 00 to 59 0 to 59

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

9(n) is the precision of where 9(n) is
the precision of
SECOND time fractional seconds
interval
The 9(n) portion is not fractional
seconds
applicable for DATE.

-12 to 14 (range
accommodates daylight
TIMEZONE_HOUR savings time changes) Not applicable

Not applicable for DATE

or TIMESTAMP.

00 to 59
TIMEZONE_MINUTE Not applicable
Not applicable for DATE
or TIMESTAMP.

Not applicable for DATE or

TIMEZONE_REGION Not applicable
TIMESTAMP.

Not applicable for DATE or

TIMEZONE_ABBR Not applicable
TIMESTAMP.

The Datetime Data Types and Functions

Following are the Datetime data types −

DATE
It stores date and time information in both character and number
datatypes. It is made of information on century, year, month, date, hour,
minute, and second. It is specified as −

TIMESTAMP
It is an extension of the DATE data type. It stores the year, month, and day
of the DATE datatype, along with hour, minute, and second values. It is
useful for storing precise time values.
TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE
It is a variant of TIMESTAMP that includes a time zone region name or a
time zone offset in its value. The time zone offset is the difference (in hours
and minutes) between local time and UTC. This data type is useful for
collecting and evaluating date information across geographic regions.

TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE

It is another variant of TIMESTAMP that includes a time zone offset in its
value.
Following table provides the Datetime functions (where, x has the datetime
value) −
S.No Function Name & Description

ADD_MONTHS(x, y);
1
Adds y months to x.

LAST_DAY(x);
2
Returns the last day of the month.

MONTHS_BETWEEN(x, y);
3
Returns the number of months between x and y.

NEXT_DAY(x, day);
4
Returns the datetime of the next day after x.

NEW_TIME;
5
Returns the time/day value from a time zone specified by
the user.

ROUND(x [, unit]);
6
Rounds x.

SYSDATE();
7
Returns the current datetime.

8 TRUNC(x [, unit]);
 Truncates x.

Timestamp functions (where, x has a timestamp value) −

S.No Function Name & Description

CURRENT_TIMESTAMP();
1
Returns a TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE containing the
current session time along with the session time zone.

EXTRACT({ YEAR | MONTH | DAY | HOUR | MINUTE |

SECOND } | { TIMEZONE_HOUR |
TIMEZONE_MINUTE } | { TIMEZONE_REGION | }
2
TIMEZONE_ABBR ) FROM x)

Extracts and returns a year, month, day, hour, minute,

second, or time zone from x.

FROM_TZ(x, time_zone);
3
Converts the TIMESTAMP x and the time zone specified by
time_zone to a TIMESTAMP WITH TIMEZONE.

LOCALTIMESTAMP();
4
Returns a TIMESTAMP containing the local time in the
session time zone.

SYSTIMESTAMP();
5
Returns a TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE containing the
current database time along with the database time zone.

SYS_EXTRACT_UTC(x);
6
Converts the TIMESTAMP WITH TIMEZONE x to a
TIMESTAMP containing the date and time in UTC.

TO_TIMESTAMP(x, [format]);
7
Converts the string x to a TIMESTAMP.

TO_TIMESTAMP_TZ(x, [format]);
8
Converts the string x to a TIMESTAMP WITH TIMEZONE.
Examples
The following code snippets illustrate the use of the above functions −
Example 1
SELECT SYSDATE FROM DUAL;

Output −
08/31/2012 5:25:34 PM

Example 2
SELECT TO_CHAR(CURRENT_DATE, 'DD-MM-YYYY HH:MI:SS') FROM DUAL;

Output −
31-08-2012 05:26:14

Example 3
SELECT ADD_MONTHS(SYSDATE, 5) FROM DUAL;

Output −
01/31/2013 5:26:31 PM

Example 4
SELECT LOCALTIMESTAMP FROM DUAL;

Output −
8/31/2012 5:26:55.347000 PM

The Interval Data Types and Functions

Following are the Interval data types −
 IINTERVAL YEAR TO MONTH − It stores a period of time using the YEAR and MONTH datetime
fields.
 INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND − It stores a period of time in terms of days, hours, minutes, and
seconds.

Interval Functions
S.No Function Name & Description

NUMTODSINTERVAL(x, interval_unit);
1
Converts the number x to an INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND.

2 NUMTOYMINTERVAL(x, interval_unit);
 Converts the number x to an INTERVAL YEAR TO MONTH.

TO_DSINTERVAL(x);
3
Converts the string x to an INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND.

TO_YMINTERVAL(x);
4
Converts the string x to an INTERVAL YEAR TO MONTH.

The DBMS_OUTPUT is a built-in package that enables you to display output, debugging

information, and send messages from PL/SQL blocks, subprograms, packages, and triggers. We
have already used this package throughout our tutorial.
Let us look at a small code snippet that will display all the user tables in the database. Try it in
your database to list down all the table names −
BEGIN

dbms_output.put_line (user || ' Tables in the database:');

FOR t IN (SELECT table_name FROM user_tables)

LOOP

dbms_output.put_line(t.table_name);

END LOOP;

END;

DBMS_OUTPUT Subprograms
The DBMS_OUTPUT package has the following subprograms −

S.No Subprogram & Purpose

DBMS_OUTPUT.DISABLE;
1
Disables message output.

2 DBMS_OUTPUT.ENABLE(buffer_size IN
INTEGER DEFAULT 20000);
Enables message output. A NULL value
 of buffer_size represents unlimited buffer size.

DBMS_OUTPUT.GET_LINE (line OUT

3 VARCHAR2, status OUT INTEGER);
Retrieves a single line of buffered information.

DBMS_OUTPUT.GET_LINES (lines OUT

4 CHARARR, numlines IN OUT INTEGER);
Retrieves an array of lines from the buffer.

DBMS_OUTPUT.NEW_LINE;
5
Puts an end-of-line marker.

DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT(item IN VARCHAR2);
6
Places a partial line in the buffer.

DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(item IN
7 VARCHAR2);
Places a line in the buffer.

Example
DECLARE

lines dbms_output.chararr;

num_lines number;

BEGIN

-- enable the buffer with default size 20000

dbms_output.enable;

dbms_output.put_line('Hello Reader!');

dbms_output.put_line('Hope you have enjoyed the tutorials!');

dbms_output.put_line('Have a great time exploring pl/sql!');

num_lines := 3;

dbms_output.get_lines(lines, num_lines);
 FOR i IN 1..num_lines LOOP

dbms_output.put_line(lines(i));

END LOOP;

END;

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the following result −
Hello Reader!
Hope you have enjoyed the tutorials!
Have a great time exploring pl/sql!

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed

PL/SQL PL/SQL allows defining an object type, which helps in designing object-oriented database in Oracle. An object
type allows you to create composite types. Using objects allow you to implement real world objects with specific
structure of data and methods for operating it. Objects have attributes and methods. Attributes are properties of an
object and are used for storing an object's state; and methods are used for modeling its behavior.

Objects are created using the CREATE [OR REPLACE] TYPE statement. Following is an example to create a
simple addressobject consisting of few attributes −

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE address AS OBJECT

(house_no varchar2(10),

street varchar2(30),

city varchar2(20),

state varchar2(10),

pincode varchar2(10)

);

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

Type created.

Let's create one more object customer where we will wrap attributes and methods together to have object-

oriented feeling −

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE customer AS OBJECT

(code number(5),

name varchar2(30),

contact_no varchar2(12),

addr address,

member procedure display

);

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

Type created.

Instantiating an Object
Defining an object type provides a blueprint for the object. To use this object, you need to create instances of this
object. You can access the attributes and methods of the object using the instance name and the access operator
(.) as follows −

DECLARE

residence address;

BEGIN

residence := address('103A', 'M.G.Road', 'Jaipur', 'Rajasthan','201301');

dbms_output.put_line('House No: '|| residence.house_no);

dbms_output.put_line('Street: '|| residence.street);

dbms_output.put_line('City: '|| residence.city);

dbms_output.put_line('State: '|| residence.state);

dbms_output.put_line('Pincode: '|| residence.pincode);

END;

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

House No: 103A

Street: M.G.Road
City: Jaipur
State: Rajasthan
Pincode: 201301

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Member Methods
Member methods are used for manipulating the attributes of the object. You provide the declaration of a member
method while declaring the object type. The object body defines the code for the member methods. The object body
is created using the CREATE TYPE BODY statement.

Constructors are functions that return a new object as its value. Every object has a system defined constructor
method. The name of the constructor is same as the object type. For example −

residence := address('103A', 'M.G.Road', 'Jaipur', 'Rajasthan','201301');

The comparison methods are used for comparing objects. There are two ways to compare objects −
Map method
The Map method is a function implemented in such a way that its value depends upon the value of the attributes.
For example, for a customer object, if the customer code is same for two customers, both customers could be the
same. So the relationship between these two objects would depend upon the value of code.

Order method
The Order method implements some internal logic for comparing two objects. For example, for a rectangle object, a
rectangle is bigger than another rectangle if both its sides are bigger.

Using Map method

Let us try to understand the above concepts using the following rectangle object −

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE rectangle AS OBJECT

(length number,

width number,

member function enlarge( inc number) return rectangle,

member procedure display,

map member function measure return number

);

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

Type created.

Creating the type body −

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE BODY rectangle AS

MEMBER FUNCTION enlarge(inc number) return rectangle IS

BEGIN

return rectangle(self.length + inc, self.width + inc);

END enlarge;

MEMBER PROCEDURE display IS

BEGIN

dbms_output.put_line('Length: '|| length);

dbms_output.put_line('Width: '|| width);

END display;

MAP MEMBER FUNCTION measure return number IS

BEGIN

return (sqrt(length*length + width*width));

END measure;
END;

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

Type body created.

Now using the rectangle object and its member functions −

DECLARE

r1 rectangle;

r2 rectangle;

r3 rectangle;

inc_factor number := 5;

BEGIN

r1 := rectangle(3, 4);

r2 := rectangle(5, 7);

r3 := r1.enlarge(inc_factor);

r3.display;

IF (r1 > r2) THEN -- calling measure function

r1.display;

ELSE

r2.display;

END IF;

END;

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

Length: 8
Width: 9
Length: 5
Width: 7

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Using Order method

Now, the same effect could be achieved using an order method. Let us recreate the rectangle object using an
order method −

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE rectangle AS OBJECT

(length number,

width number,

member procedure display,

 order member function measure(r rectangle) return number

);

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

Type created.

Creating the type body −

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE BODY rectangle AS

MEMBER PROCEDURE display IS

BEGIN

dbms_output.put_line('Length: '|| length);

dbms_output.put_line('Width: '|| width);

END display;

ORDER MEMBER FUNCTION measure(r rectangle) return number IS

BEGIN

IF(sqrt(self.length*self.length + self.width*self.width)>

sqrt(r.length*r.length + r.width*r.width)) then

return(1);

ELSE

return(-1);

END IF;

END measure;

END;

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

Type body created.

Using the rectangle object and its member functions −

DECLARE

r1 rectangle;

r2 rectangle;

BEGIN

r1 := rectangle(23, 44);

r2 := rectangle(15, 17);

r1.display;

r2.display;
 IF (r1 > r2) THEN -- calling measure function

r1.display;

ELSE

r2.display;

END IF;

END;

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

Length: 23

Width: 44

Length: 15

Width: 17

Length: 23

Width: 44

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Inheritance for PL/SQL Objects

PL/SQL allows creating object from the existing base objects. To implement inheritance, the base objects should be
declared as NOT FINAL. The default is FINAL.

The following programs illustrate the inheritance in PL/SQL Objects. Let us create another object named TableTop,
this is inherited from the Rectangle object. For this, we need to create the base rectangle object −

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE rectangle AS OBJECT

(length number,

width number,

member function enlarge( inc number) return rectangle,

NOT FINAL member procedure display) NOT FINAL

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

Type created.

Creating the base type body −

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE BODY rectangle AS

MEMBER FUNCTION enlarge(inc number) return rectangle IS

BEGIN
 return rectangle(self.length + inc, self.width + inc);

END enlarge;

MEMBER PROCEDURE display IS

BEGIN

dbms_output.put_line('Length: '|| length);

dbms_output.put_line('Width: '|| width);

END display;

END;

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

Type body created.

Creating the child object tabletop −

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE tabletop UNDER rectangle

material varchar2(20),

OVERRIDING member procedure display

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

Type created.

Creating the type body for the child object tabletop

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE BODY tabletop AS

OVERRIDING MEMBER PROCEDURE display IS

BEGIN

dbms_output.put_line('Length: '|| length);

dbms_output.put_line('Width: '|| width);

dbms_output.put_line('Material: '|| material);

END display;

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

Type body created.

Using the tabletop object and its member functions −

DECLARE
 t1 tabletop;

t2 tabletop;

BEGIN

t1:= tabletop(20, 10, 'Wood');

t2 := tabletop(50, 30, 'Steel');

t1.display;

t2.display;

END;

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

Length: 20
Width: 10
Material: Wood
Length: 50
Width: 30
Material: Steel

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Abstract Objects in PL/SQL

The NOT INSTANTIABLE clause allows you to declare an abstract object. You cannot use an abstract object as it is;
you will have to create a subtype or child type of such objects to use its functionalities.

For example,

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE rectangle AS OBJECT

(length number,

width number,

NOT INSTANTIABLE NOT FINAL MEMBER PROCEDURE display)

NOT INSTANTIABLE NOT FINAL