4/2/2019 PL/SQL - Constants and Literals
PL/SQL - Constants and Literals
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In this chapter, we will discuss constants and literals in PL/SQL. 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 −
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4/2/2019 PL/SQL - Constants and Literals
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'
4 BOOLEAN Literals
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4/2/2019 PL/SQL - Constants and Literals
TRUE, FALSE, and NULL.
Date and Time Literals
5 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.
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