4/2/2019 PL/SQL Basic Syntax
PL/SQL - Basic Syntax
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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 −
S.No Sections & Description
Declarations
This section starts with the keyword DECLARE. It is an optional section and
1
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
2 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
3 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>
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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;
/
The end; line signals the end of the PL/SQL block. To run the code from the SQL command
line, you may need to type / at the beginning of the first blank line after the last line of the
code. When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the following result
−
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
−
Delimiter Description
+, -, *, / Addition, subtraction/negation, multiplication, division
% Attribute indicator
' Character string delimiter
. Component selector
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(,) Expression or list delimiter
: Host variable indicator
, Item separator
" Quoted identifier delimiter
= Relational operator
@ Remote access indicator
; Statement terminator
:= Assignment operator
=> Association operator
|| Concatenation operator
** Exponentiation operator
<<, >> Label delimiter (begin and end)
/*, */ Multi-line comment delimiter (begin and end)
-- Single-line comment indicator
.. Range operator
<, >, <=, >= Relational operators
<>, '=, ~=, ^= Different versions of NOT EQUAL
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)
*/
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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
Each of these units will be discussed in the following chapters.
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