PL/SQL

(Procedural Language extensions to SQL)

Prepared by: Manoj Kathpalia

Edited by: M V Ramakrishna
 Outline
• Purpose of PL/SQL.
• PL/SQL block, its structure and
types.
• PL/SQL Syntax.
 Purpose of PL/SQL
• Procedural programming language
used to access an Oracle database.
• Designed to overcome SQL's inability
to handle control aspects of database
interaction.
• Extends SQL by adding procedural
language constructs, such as:
- Variables and types.
 - Control structures (IF-THEN-ELSE
statements and loops).
- Procedures and functions.
• Procedural constructs are integrated
seamlessly with Oracle SQL, resulting
in a structured, powerful language.
• Well-suited for designing complex
applications.
 PL/SQL Block
• Block is a basic unit in PL/SQL.
• All PL/SQL programs consist of
blocks and each block performs a
logical function in the program.
• Blocks can be nested within each
other or can occur sequentially.
 PL/SQL Block Structure
DECLARE
(Declarative section)

BEGIN
(Executable section)

EXCEPTION
(Exception handling section)

END;
/ (/ at the end of a block tells Oracle to run the block)
 Types of PL/SQL Blocks
• as Anonymous blocks which are
compiled and run when loaded.
• as Triggers to maintain integrity.
• as Subprograms (Procedures and
Functions) stored within the database
that can be executed many times.
• as Packages, a named declarative
section for storing related objects that
can include procedures, functions and
variables.
 PL/SQL Syntax
Declaration
• Variables are declared in the
declarative section of the block.
• Variable declaration examples:
v_student_id CHAR(8);
v_lastname VARCHAR2(25);
v_capacity NUMBER(3) := 200;
( := is used to initialize variables )
 Types
Basic PL/SQL types are:
• NUMBER(P,S) holds numeric value
(where P is the precision and S is the scale)

• VARCHAR2(L) holds strings or character data

(where L is the maximum length of the variable)

• CHAR(L) for fixed-length character strings

• DATE for storing date and time information
• BOOLEAN can hold TRUE, FALSE or NULL only
 Declaring variables with
%TYPE attribute
• %TYPE attribute is used when a
PL/SQL variable is going to be used
to manipulate the data stored in the
database.
• The variable should have the same
type as the table column (field).
• Specifying %TYPE attribute takes
care.
• For example, if the variable is used
in the PL/SQL program to store the
phone number of a student, following
declaration can be used
v_phone STUDENT.phone%TYPE;

Instead of, say

v_phone CHAR(10);
 PL/SQL Syntax
Control Structures
IF-THEN-ELSE
IF boolean_expression1 THEN
sequence_of_statements1;
[ELSIF boolean_expression2 THEN
sequence_of_statements2;]
…
[ELSE
sequence_of_statements3;]
END IF;
 LOOPS
Simple Loops
LOOP
sequence_of_statements;
END LOOP;

EXIT [WHEN condition]; is used to

exit the loop
WHILE Loops
WHILE condition LOOP
sequence_of_statements;
END LOOP:

EXIT or EXIT WHEN will also be

used to exit the loop
FOR Loops
FOR loop_counter IN [REVERSE] low_bound .. high_bound

LOOP
sequence_of_statements;
END LOOP:
 Comments
• Single-line comments
DECLARE
v_title CHAR(2) -- title can be Mr or Ms
…

• Multi-line comments
DECLARE
/* I am a multi-line
comment */
• -- Command to display the output at the SQL prompt
• SET SERVEROUTPUT ON

• -- This PL/SQL block accepts a number from the terminal, and prints out
its square.
• -- You can try this from sql+
• -- It has no exception handling code.

• DECLARE
• num1 NUMBER(3);
• num1_sq NUMBER(6);

• BEGIN
• -- prompts user for a value for 'anytemp'
• num1 := &anytemp;
• num1_sq := num1 * num1 ;
• DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('THE SQUARE OF ' || num1 || ' IS ' ||
num1_sq);
• END;
• /