Writing Executable Statements

Writing Executable Statements
Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able to do

the following:
• Identify lexical units in a PL/SQL block
• Use built-in SQL functions in PL/SQL
• Describe when implicit conversions take place and
when explicit conversions have to be dealt with
• Write nested blocks and qualify variables with
labels
• Write readable code with appropriate indentations

Lexical Units in a PL/SQL Block
Lexical units:
• Are building blocks of any PL/SQL block
• Are sequences of characters including letters,
digits, tabs, spaces, returns, and symbols
• Can be classified as:
– Identifiers
– Delimiters
– Literals
– Comments

PL/SQL Block Syntax and Guidelines
• Literals:
– Character and date literals must be enclosed in
single quotation marks.
name := 'Henderson';
– Numbers can be simple values or scientific
notation.
• Statements can continue over several lines.

Commenting Code
• Prefix single-line comments with two dashes (--).

• Place multiple-line comments between the
symbols “/*” and “*/”.
Example:
DECLARE
...
annual_sal NUMBER (9,2);
BEGIN -- Begin the executable section
/* Compute the annual salary based on the

monthly salary input from the user */
annual_sal := monthly_sal * 12;
END; -- This is the end of the block
/

SQL Functions in PL/SQL
• Available in procedural statements:

– Single-row number
– Single-row character
– Data type conversion
– Date
– Timestamp
– GREATEST and LEAST
– Miscellaneous functions
• Not available in procedural statements:
– DECODE
– Group functions

SQL Functions in PL/SQL: Examples
• Get the length of a string:

desc_size INTEGER(5);
prod_description VARCHAR2(70):='You can use this
product with your radios for higher frequency';
-- get the length of the string in prod_description

desc_size:= LENGTH(prod_description);
• Convert the employee name to lowercase:

emp_name:= LOWER(emp_name);

Data Type Conversion
• Convert data to comparable data types

• Are of two types:
– Implicit conversions
– Explicit conversions
Some conversion functions:
– TO_CHAR
– TO_DATE
– TO_NUMBER
– TO_TIMESTAMP

Data Type Conversion
1 date_of_joining DATE:= '02-Feb-2000';
2 date_of_joining DATE:= 'February 02,2000';
date_of_joining DATE:= TO_DATE('February

3 02,2000','Month DD, YYYY');

Nested Blocks
PL/SQL blocks can be nested.

• An executable section (BEGIN
… END) can contain nested
blocks.
• An exception section can
contain nested blocks.

Nested Blocks
Example:
DECLARE
outer_variable VARCHAR2(20):='GLOBAL VARIABLE';
BEGIN
DECLARE
inner_variable VARCHAR2(20):='LOCAL VARIABLE';
BEGIN
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(inner_variable);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(outer_variable);
END;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(outer_variable);
END;
/

Variable Scope and Visibility
DECLARE
father_name VARCHAR2(20):='Patrick';
date_of_birth DATE:='20-Apr-1972';
BEGIN
DECLARE
child_name VARCHAR2(20):='Mike';
date_of_birth DATE:='12-Dec-2002';
BEGIN
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Father''s Name: '||father_name);
1 DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Date of Birth: '||date_of_birth);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Child''s Name: '||child_name);
END;
2 DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Date of Birth: '||date_of_birth);
END;
/

Qualify an Identifier
<<outer>>
DECLARE
father_name VARCHAR2(20):='Patrick';
date_of_birth DATE:='20-Apr-1972';
BEGIN
DECLARE
child_name VARCHAR2(20):='Mike';
date_of_birth DATE:='12-Dec-2002';
BEGIN
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Father''s Name: '||father_name);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Date of Birth: '
||outer.date_of_birth);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Child''s Name: '||child_name);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Date of Birth: '||date_of_birth);
END;
END;
/`

Determining Variable Scope
<<outer>>
DECLARE
sal NUMBER(7,2) := 60000;
comm NUMBER(7,2) := sal * 0.20;
message VARCHAR2(255) := ' eligible for commission';
BEGIN
DECLARE
sal NUMBER(7,2) := 50000;
comm NUMBER(7,2) := 0;
total_comp NUMBER(7,2) := sal + comm;
BEGIN
message := 'CLERK not'||message;
1 outer.comm := sal * 0.30;
END;
message := 'SALESMAN'||message;
2
END;
/

Operators in PL/SQL
• Logical
• Arithmetic
• Concatenation Same as in SQL
• Parentheses to control order
of operations
• Exponential operator (**)

Operators in PL/SQL
Examples:
• Increment the counter for a loop.
loop_count := loop_count + 1;
• Set the value of a Boolean flag.

good_sal := sal BETWEEN 50000 AND 150000;
• Validate whether an employee number contains a

value.
valid := (empno IS NOT NULL);

Programming Guidelines
Make code maintenance easier by:

• Documenting code with comments
• Developing a case convention for the code
• Developing naming conventions for identifiers and
other objects
• Enhancing readability by indenting

Indenting Code
For clarity, indent each level of code.

Example: DECLARE
deptno NUMBER(4);
BEGIN
location_id NUMBER(4);
IF x=0 THEN
BEGIN
y:=1;
SELECT department_id,
END IF;
location_id
END;
INTO deptno,
/
location_id
FROM departments
WHERE department_name
= 'Sales';
...
END;
/

Summary
In this lesson, you should have learned how to:

• Use built-in SQL functions in PL/SQL
• Write nested blocks to break logically related
functionalities
• Decide when you should perform explicit
conversions
• Qualify variables in nested blocks

Practice 3: Overview
This practice covers the following topics:

• Reviewing scoping and nesting rules
• Writing and testing PL/SQL blocks

Writing Executable Statements

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Writing Executable Statements

Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

After completing this lesson, you should be able to do

Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

• Prefix single-line comments with two dashes (--).

/* Compute the annual salary based on the

Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

• Available in procedural statements:

Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

• Get the length of a string:

-- get the length of the string in prod_description

• Convert the employee name to lowercase:

Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

• Convert data to comparable data types

Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

1 date_of_joining DATE:= '02-Feb-2000';

2 date_of_joining DATE:= 'February 02,2000';

date_of_joining DATE:= TO_DATE('February

Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

PL/SQL blocks can be nested.

Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

• Exponential operator (**)

Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

• Set the value of a Boolean flag.

• Validate whether an employee number contains a

Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Make code maintenance easier by:

Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

For clarity, indent each level of code.

Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

In this lesson, you should have learned how to:

Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

This practice covers the following topics:

Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

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