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PL SQL3

This document provides an introduction to PL/SQL data types. It explains that PL/SQL has scalar and composite data types, with scalar types storing single values like numbers, Booleans, characters, and datetimes. The scalar data types are divided into four families: number, Boolean, character, and datetime. It provides details on numeric, Boolean, character, and datetime data types, including specific types like NUMBER, PLS_INTEGER, VARCHAR2, DATE and examples of each.

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Faiyaz Raza
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47 views

PL SQL3

This document provides an introduction to PL/SQL data types. It explains that PL/SQL has scalar and composite data types, with scalar types storing single values like numbers, Booleans, characters, and datetimes. The scalar data types are divided into four families: number, Boolean, character, and datetime. It provides details on numeric, Boolean, character, and datetime data types, including specific types like NUMBER, PLS_INTEGER, VARCHAR2, DATE and examples of each.

Uploaded by

Faiyaz Raza
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction to PL/SQL data types

Each value in PL/SQL such as a constant, variable and parameter has a data type
that determines the
storage format, valid values and allowed operations.

PL/SQL has two kinds of data types: scalar and composite. The scalar types are
types that store single
values such as number, Boolean, character, and datetime whereas the composite types
are types that
store multiple values, for example, record and collection.

This tutorial explains the scalar data types that store values with no internal
components.

PL/SQL divides the scalar data types into four families:

Number
Boolean
Character
Datetime

A scalar data type may have subtypes. A subtype is a data type that is a subset of
another data type,
which is its base type. A subtype further defines a base type by restricting the
value or size of the base
data type.

Note that PL/SQL scalar data types include SQL data types and its own data type
such as Boolean.

Numeric data types

The numeric data types represent real numbers, integers, and floating-point
numbers. They are stored
as NUMBER , IEEE floating-point storage types ( BINARY_FLOAT and BINARY_DOUBLE ),
and PLS_INTEGER .

The data types NUMBER , BINARY_FLOAT , and BINARY_DOUBLE are SQL data types.

The PLS_INTEGER datatype is specific to PL/SQL. It represents signed 32 bits


integers that range from
-2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647 .

Because PLS_INTEGER datatype uses hardware arithmetic, they are faster than NUMBER
operations,
which uses software arithmetic.

In addition, PLS_INTEGER values require less storage than NUMBER . Hence, you
should always use
PLS_INTEGER values for all calculation in its range to increase the efficiency of
programs.

The PLS_INTEGER datatype has the following predefined subtypes:

PLS_INTEGER
subtypes
Description

NATURAL Represents nonnegative PLS_INTEGER values


NATURALN Represents nonnegative PLS_INTEGER values with NOT NULL constraint
POSITIVE Represents positive PLS_INTEGER values
POSITIVEN Represents positive PLS_INTEGER value with NOT NULL constraint
SIGNTYPE Represents three values -1, 0, or 1, which are useful for tri-state logic

programming

SIMPLE_INTEGER Represents PLS_INTEGER values with NOT NULL constraint.


Note that PLS_INTEGER and BINARY_INTEGER data types are identical.

Boolean data type

The BOOLEAN datatype has three data values: TRUE, FALSE, and NULL. Boolean values
are typically used
in control flow structure such as IF-THEN, CASE, and loop statements like LOOP, FOR
LOOP, and WHILE

LOOP.

SQL does not have the BOOLEAN data type, therefore, you cannot:

Assign a BOOLEAN value to a table column.


Select the value from a table column into a BOOLEAN variable.
Use a BOOLEAN value in a SQL function.
Use a BOOLEAN expression in a SQL statement.
Use a BOOLEAN value in the DBMS_OUTPUT.PUTLINE and DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT subprograms.

Character data types

The character data types represent alphanumeric text. PL/SQL uses the SQL character
data types such
as CHAR , VARCHAR2 , LONG , RAW , LONG RAW , ROWID , and UROWID .

CHAR(n) is a fixed-length character type whose length is from 1 to 32,767 bytes.


VARCHAR2(n) is varying length character data from 1 to 32,767 bytes.

Datetime data types

The datetime data types represent dates, timestamp with or without time zone and
intervals. PL/SQL
datetime data types are DATE , TIMESTAMP , TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE , TIMESTAMP
WITH LOCAL TIME
ZONE , INTERVAL YEAR TO MONTH , and INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND .

Data type synonyms

Data types have synonyms for compartibility with non-Oracle data sources such as
IBM Db2, SQL
Server. And it is not a good practice to use data type synonym unless you are
accessing a non-Oracle
Database.

Data Type Synonyms


Data Type Synonyms


NUMBER DEC, DECIMAL, DOUBLE PRECISION, FLOAT, INTEGER, INT, NUMERIC, REAL, SMALLINT
CHAR CHARACTER, STRING
VARCHAR2 VARCHAR
Now, you should have a complete overview of PL/SQL data types for manipulating data
in PL/SQL
program.

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