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IBM SOLUTIONS DELIVERY INC.

PL/SQL
Part 1 - Declaring Variables

Prepared by:

Sherwin O. Bautista

© 2008 IBM Corporation

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Course Objectives

After completing this course, trainees should be able to do the

following:

 Be on familiar terms with the basic PL/SQL block and its

sections
 Will be able to describe the significance of variables in PL/SQL
 Declare PL/SQL variables
 Execute a PL/SQL block

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PL/SQL Block Structure

A PL/SQL block consists of up to three sections: declarative (optional), executable
(required), and exception handling (optional).

DECLARE - Optional

Variables, cursors,
user-defined exceptions

BEGIN - Mandatory
DECLARE
-- SQL statements
{code .... } -- PL/SQL statements

BEGIN EXCEPTION - Optional

{code….} Actions to perform when error occurs

EXCEPTION END; - Mandatory

{code….}

END;

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PL/SQL Block Structure

A PL/SQL block consists of up to three sections: declarative (optional), executable
(required), and exception handling (optional).

Section Description Inclusion

Declarative Contains all variables, constants, cursors, and user-define exceptions that are Optional
referenced in the executable and declarative sections

Executable Contains SQL statements to manipulate data in the database and PL/SQL statements Mandatory
to manipulate data in the block

Exception Specifies the actions to perform when errors and abnormal conditions arise in the Optional
Handling executable section

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Executing Statements and PL/SQL Blocks

 Place a semicolon (;) at the end of a SQL statement or PL/SQL control statement

 When the block is executed successfully, without unhandled errors or compile errors,
the message output should be as follows:
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

 Section keywords DECLARE, BEGIN, and EXCEPTION are not followed by

semicolons.

 END and all other PL/SQL statements require a semicolon to terminate the
statement.

Note: Error is called an “exception”.

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Block Types

Anonymous Procedure Functions

[DECLARE] PROCEDURE name FUNCTION name

IS RETURN datatype
IS

BEGIN BEGIN BEGIN

-- statements -- statements -- statements

RETURN value;
[EXCEPTION] [EXCEPTION] EXCEPTION

END; END; END;

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Block Types
Anonymous Blocks:
 unnamed blocks

 declared at the point in an application where they are to be executed

 passed to the PL/SQL engine for execution at run time.

 can be embed within a pre-compiler program and with in iSQL*Plus.

Subprograms: (declared as procedure or as functions)

 named PL/SQL blocks that can accept parameters and can be invoked.

 procedure use to perform an action

 function to compute a value.

 can store at the server or application level.

Note: A function is similar to a procedure, except a function must return a value.

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Program Construct
The program construct are available based on the environment in which they are executed.

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Use of Variables
Variable can be use for the following:

Temporary storage of data:

While validating data input and for processing later in the data flow process, data
can be temporarily stored.
Manipulation of stored values:

Variables can be used for calculations and other data manipulations without
accessing the database.
Reusability:

Once variables declared, variables can be used repeatedly in an application

simply by referencing them in the other statements.

Ease of maintenance:

When using %TYPE and %ROWTYPE, you declare variables, basing the
declarations on the definitions of database columns. If definition changes, the
variable declaration changes accordingly at run time.

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Handling Variables in PL/SQL

Declare and Initialize Variables in the Declaration Section
Declaring variables in the declarative part of any PL/SQL block, subprograms, or
package will allocate storage space for a value and can reference by specify its data
type, and name of storage location. A variable must declare before referencing it in
other statements.

Assign New Values to Variables in the Executable Section

In the executable section, the existing value of the variable is replaced with the new
value that is assigned to the variable.
Pass Values Into PL/SQL Subprograms through parameters

There are three parameter modes.

IN (default) -- use this parameter to pass values to the subprogram being
called.

OUT -- use this parameter to return values to the caller of a subprogram.

IN OUT -- use this parameter to pass initial values to the subprogram being
called and to return updated values to the caller.

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Types of Variables

PL/SQL supports four data type categories that can use for declaring variables, constant,
and pointers.

 Scalar
-- hold a single value.

 Composite
-- records, allow group of fields to be defined and manipulated in PL/SQL blocks.

 Reference
-- hold values called pointer that designate other program items (note: not
covered in this course).

 LOB (large objects)

-- hold values called locators that specify the location of large objects (i.e. graphic
images) that are stored out of line.

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Types of Variables
Some illustration of variable data types:

 TRUE represents a Boolean value.

 08-AUG-08 represents a DATE

 The photograph represents a BLOB

 The text of a speech represents a LONG

 75232.09 represents a NUMBER data type with precision and scale.

 The movie represents a BFILE.

 The city name “EASTWOOD” represents a VARCHAR2

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Declaring PL/SQL Variables

Syntax:

identifier [CONSTANT] datatype [NOT NULL] [:= | DEFAULT expr];

Examples:

DECLARE
v_hiredate DATE;
v_deptno NUMBER(2) NOT NULL := 10;
v_location VARCHAR2(13) := ‘Eastwood’;
v_comm CONSTANT NUMBER := 1400;

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Declaring PL/SQL Variables

Syntax:

identifier [CONSTANT] datatype [NOT NULL] [:= | DEFAULT expr];

In the syntax:

identifier is the name of the variable

CONSTANT constrains the variable so that its value cannot change;

constants must be initialized.

data type is a scalar, composite, reference, or LOB data type.

NOT NULL constrains the variable so that it must contain a value.

(NOT NULL variables must be initialized).

expr is any PL/SQL expression that can be a literal express or another

variable or an expression involving operators and functions.

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Guidelines for Declaring PL/SQL Variables

 Name the identifier according to the same rules used for SQL objects

 Use naming conventions – for example, v_name to represent a variable and c_name to
represent a constant variable.

 Assign a value if NOT NULL constraint is use.

 Declare only one identifier per line (makes code easier to read and maintain).

 In constant declarations, the keyword CONSTANT must precede the type specifier.

Example: v_sal CONSTANT REAL := 5000.00;

 Initialize the variable to an expression with the assignment operator (:=) or, equivalent,
with the DEFAULT reserved word.

Note: If you do not assign an initial value, the new variable contains NULL by default
until you assign a value later.

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Naming Rules
 Two variables can have the same name, provided they are in different blocks.

 The variable name (identifier) should not be the same as the name of table columns used
in the block.

Example:

Wrong Correct

DECLARE DECLARE
employee_id NUMBER(6); v_employee_id NUMBER(6);
BEGIN BEGIN
SELECT employee_id SELECT employee_id
INTO employee_id INTO v_employee_id
FROM employees FROM employees
WHERE last_name = ‘Cruz’; WHERE last_name = ‘Cruz’;
END; END;
/ /

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Variable Initialization and Keywords

 Assignment operator (:=)

 DEFAULT keyword

 NOT NULL constraint

Syntax:

identifier := expr;

Examples:

v_hiredate := ’28-JAN-2008’;

v_lastname := ‘Cruz’;

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Variable Initialization and Keywords

In the Syntax:

identifier is the name of the scalar variable.

expr can be a variable, literal, or function call

but NOT a database column.

Note:

String literals must be enclosed in a single quotation marks.

For example: ‘Hello, world’.

If there is a single quotation mark in the string, use a single quotation mark twice.

For example:

the value is : FISHERMAN’S DRIVE

the string would be: ‘FISHERMAN’’S DRIVE’

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Scalar Data Types

A scalar data type holds a single value and has no internal components. Scalar data
types can be classified into four categories:

 Number

 Character

 Date

 Boolean

BASE SCALAR DATA TYPES

 CHAR [(maximum_length)]
 VARCHAR2 (maximum_length)
 LONG
 LONG RAW
 NUMBER [(precesion, scale)]
 BINARY_INTEGER
 PLS_INTEGER
 BOOLEAN

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Base Scalar Data Types

Data Type Description
CHAR [(maximum_length)] Base type for fixed-length character data up to 32,767 bytes. If you do not specify a
maximum_length, the default length is set to 1.

VARCHAR2 Base type for variable-length character data up to 32, 767 bytes. There is no default size for
(maximum_length) VARCHAR2 variables and constants.

LONG Base type for variable-length character data up to 32, 760 bytes. Use LONG data type to
store variable-length character strings. You can insert any LONG value into a LONG
database column because the maximum width of LONG column is 2**31 bytes. However,
you cannot retrieve a value longer than 32760 bytes for a LONG column into a LONG
variable.

LONG RAW Base type for binary data and byte strings up to 32, 760 bytes. LONG RAW is not interpreted
by PL/SQL
NUMBER [(precision, Number having precision p and scale s. The precision p can range from 1 to 38. The scale s
scale)] can range from -84 to 127.

BINARY_INTEGER Base type for integers between -2, 147, 483, 647 and 2,147, 483, 647.

PLS_INTEGER Base type for signed integers between -2,147, 483,647 and 2,147, 2483, 647. PLS_INTEGER
values require less storage and are faster than NUMBER and BINARY_INTEGER values.

BOOLEAN Base type that stores one of three possible values used for logical calculations: TRUE,
FALSE, or NULL

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Base Scalar Data Types

Data Type Description
DATE Base type for dates and time. DATE values include the time of day in seconds since midnight.
The range for date is between 4712 B.C. and 9999 A.D.
TIMESTAMP The TIMESTAMP data type, which extends the DATE data type, stores the year, month, day,
hour, minute, and second. The syntax is : TIMESTAMP [(precession)] where the
optional parameter precision specifies the number of digits in the fractional of the seconds
field. You cannot use a symbolic constant or variable to specify the precision; you must
use an integer literal in the range 0 .. 9. The default is 6.
TIMESTAMP WITH TIME The TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE data type, which extends the TIMESTAMP data type,
ZONE includes a time-zone displacement. The time-zone displacement is the difference (in
hours and minutes) between local time and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), formerly
known as Greanwich Mean Time. The syntax is: TIMESTAMP [(precision)] WITH
TIME ZONE where the optional parameter precision specifies the number of digits in the
fractional part of the seconds field. You cannot use a symbolic constant or variable to
specify the precision; you must use an integer literal in the range 0 .. 9. The default is 6.
TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL The TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE data type, which extends TIMESTAMP data
TIME ZONE type, includes a time-zone displacement. The time-zone displacement is the difference (in
hours and minutes) between local time and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The
syntax is TIMESTAMP [(precision)] WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE where the optional
parameter precision specifies the number of digits in the fractional part of the seconds
field. You cannot use the symbolic constant or variable specify the precision; you must
use an integer or literal in the rang 0 .. 9. The default is 6.
This data type differs from TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE in that when you insert a value
into a database column, the value is normalized to the database time zone, and the time-
zone displacement is not stored in the column. When you retrieve the value, Oracle
returns the value in you local session time zone.

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Base Scalar Data Types

INTERVAL YEAR TO MONTH You use the INTERVAL YEAR TO MONTH data type to store and manipulate intervals of
years and months. The syntax is INTERVAL YEAR TO MONTH [(precision)] TO
MONTH where year_precision specifies the number of digits in the years field. You
cannot use a symbolic constant or variable to specify the precision; you must use an integer
literal in the range 0 .. 4. The default is 2..
INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND You use the INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND data type to store and manipulate intervals of
days, hours, minutes, and seconds. The syntax is : INTERVAL DAY [(precision1)] TO
SECOND [(precision2)] where precesion1 and precision2 specify the number of digits
in the days field and seconds field, respectively. In both cases, you cannot use a symbolic
constant or variable to specify the precision; you must use an integer literal in the range 0 ..
9. The defaults are 2 and 6, respectively.

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The %TYPE Attribute

When declaring PL/SQL variables, the developer must ensure the variable is of the correct
data type and precision. If not, PL/SQL error will occur during execution.

Rather than hard coding the data type and precision of a variable, the developer can use
the %TYPE attribute to declare a variable according to another previously declared variable
or database column.

The %TYPE attribute is most often used when the value stored in the variable will be
derived from a table in the database.

Syntax:

identifier Table.column_name%TYPE

Examples:

. . .
v_name employees.last_name%TYPE;
v_salary NUMBER(7,2);
. . .

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Declaring Boolean Variables

 Only the values TRUE, FALSE, and NULL can be assigned to a Boolean variable.

 The variables are compared by the logical operators AND, OR, and NOT.

 The variables always yield TRU, FALSE, or NULL.

 Arithmetic, character, and date expression can be use to return a Boolean value.

Examples:

v_sal1 := 3000; Declare and initialize a Boolean variable

v_sal2 := 4000;
DECLARE
The expression yields to TRUE. v_flag BOOLEAN := FALSE;
BEGIN
v_sal1 < v_sal2. v_flag := TRUE;
END;

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LOB Data Type Variables

LOB (large object) data type, can store block of unstructured data (such as text, graphic
images, video clips, and sound wave forms) up to 4 gigabytes in size. LOB data types
allow efficient, random, piecewise access to the data and can be attributes of an object
type. LOB’s also support random access to data.

 CLOB (character large object) data type is used to store large blocks of
single-byte character data in the database in line (inside the row) or out of
line (outside the row). (i.e. BOOK)

 BLOB (binary large object) data type is use to store large binary objects in
the database in line (inside the row) or out of line (outside the row). (i.e.
PHOTO)

 BFILE (binary file) data type is used to store large binary objects in
operating system files outside the database. (i.e. MOVIE)

 NCLOB (national language character large object) data type is used to

store large blocks of single-byte or fixed-width multibyte NCHAR unicode
data in the database, in line or out of line.

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BIND Variables
A bind variable is a variable that you can declare in a host environment. Bind variables can
be used to pass run-time values, either number or character, into or out of one or more
PL/SQL programs.

Creating Bind Variables

To declare a bind variable in the iSQL*Plus environment, use the command VARIABLE.

For example:

Developer declare a variable type of NUMBER or VARCHAR2 as follows:

VARIABLE return_code NUMBER

VARIABLE return_msg VARCHAR2(3)

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Using Bind Variables

To reference a bind variable in PL/SQL, you must prefix its name with a colon (:).

Example:

VARIABLE g_salary NUMBER

BEGIN
SELECT salary
INTO :g_salary
FROM employees
WHERE employee_id = 180;
END;
/
PRINT g_salary

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Referencing Non-PL/SQL Variables

To reference host variables, you must prefix the references with a colon (:) to distinguish
them from declared PL/SQL variables.

Example:

SET VERIFY OFF

VARIABLE g_monthly_sal NUMBER
DEFINE p_annual_sal = 5000

DECLARE
v_sal NUMBER(9,2) := &p_annual_sal;
BEGIN
:g_monthly_sal := v_sal/12;
END;
/
PRINT g_monthly_sal

Note: The DEFINE command specifies a user variable and assigns it a CHAR value.

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DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE

You have seen that you can declare a host variable, reference it in a PL/SQL block, and
then display its contents in iSQL*Plus using the PRINT command.

Another option for displaying information from a PL/SQL block is DBMS_OUTPUT.PUTLINE.

 An Oracle-supplied packaged procedure

 An alternative for displaying data from a PL/SQL block

 Must be enabled in iSQL*Plus with SET SERVEROUTPUT ON.

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DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE
Example:

SET SERVEROUTPUT ON
DEFINE p_annual_sal = 60000
DECLARE
v_sal NUMBER(9,2) := &pa_annual_sal;
BEGIN
v_sal := v_sal/12;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (‘The monthly salary is ‘ ||
TO_CHAR(v_sal));
END;
/

The output is:

The monthly salary is 5000

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

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Questions?

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Practice Exercise

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