Chapter 4 : Control structures

A.U: 2020/2021 1 M(AD)2

1. Introduction
2. Conditional control structures
3. Iterative control structures

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4.1 Introduction
 Control structures are the most important contribution to extending SQL to
PL/SQL.
 Not only does PL/SQL allow us to manipulate Oracle data, it allows us to
manipulate data using:
 Conditional structures:
 PL/SQL offers two structures for programming a conditional action: the IF structure and the CASE
structure

 Repetitive structures:
 In PL/SQL, repetitive structures (in which there are three; FOR, WHILE, LOOP) all use the LOOP
statement.

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4.2 Conditional control structures
 IF Structure
 The IF instruction is used to execute a sequence of conditional instructions.
 Depending on the tests to be programmed, we can distinguish three forms of IF
structure:
 IF-THEN (si-alors)
 IF-THEN-ELSE,
 IF-THEN-ELSIF.
 NB:
 The IF statement ends with «END IF» and not «ENDIF».

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4.2 Conditional control structures
 IF Structure
 IF-THEN

 IF-THEN-ELSE

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4.2 Conditional control structures
 IF structure
 IF-THEN-ELSIF

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4.2 Conditional control structures
 Exercise
Write a program that allows you to find out if a telephone number (declared
and initialized in the DECLARE section) is a landline number or a mobile
number.
 NB1: Use the function SUBSTR
SUBSTR (string, start, [lenght]): Extracts a string from the start index having the length
lenght. If start is negative then we start from the end.

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4.2 Conditional control structures
 Solution

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4.2 Conditional control structures
 Solution

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4.2 Conditional control structures
 CASE structure
 To choose between several values or several actions, you can use the CASE
instruction,
 We have two possible forms to use the CASE statement:
 The CASE structure evaluates a condition and returns a value for each case,
 The CASE structure evaluates a condition and performs an action (which can be a PL/SQL block) for
each case.

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4.2 Conditional control structures
 CASE structure
 First form:

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4.2 Conditional control structures
 CASE structure
 Second form:

 NB: If the ELSE clause does not exist, and in the event that no condition is valid, the
system returns an error.

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4.2 Conditional control structures
 Exercise
Write a PL/SQL code that allows you to find the mention of a student from
his grade (declared and initialized in the DECLARE part or entered at the
console).
 NB:
 Use the PROMPT command to display a message to the console
 Use the ACCEPT command to retrieve what was entered at the console.

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4.2 Conditional control structures
 Solution

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4.3 Iterative control structures
 In PL/SQL, repetitive structures (which are three) all use the LOOP
statement:
 LOOP,
 WHILE,
 FOR.

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4.3 Iterative control structures
 LOOP
 In general, the LOOP instruction executes a sequence of instructions more than one
time.
 The LOOP keyword is placed before the first instruction in the sequence and the
END LOOP keyword is placed after the last instruction in the sequence.
 The syntax is as follows:
LOOP
--instructions to execute
END LOOP;

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4.3 Iterative control structures
 LOOP
 To exit the LOOP, use the EXIT instruction as follows:
LOOP
--instructions to execute
EXIT [WHEN condition;]
END LOOP;
 The particularity of this structure is that the first iteration is carried out
whatever the initial conditions.
 The condition is only evaluated at the end of the loop.
 If no condition is specified (no condition), the loop is exited immediately.
 If the condition is false, the sequence of instructions is executed again. This process continues until the
condition is true to go into sequence after the END LOOP.

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4.3 Iterative control structures
 Exercise
 Write a PL/SQL code that calculates the sum of the first n integers :
sum=n+n-1+n-2+…+2+1.
 Write a PL/SQL code that calculates the factorial of 10.

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4.3 Iterative control structures
 Solution
DECLARE
v_somme NUMBER(4) := 0;
v_entier NUMBER(3) := 1;
BEGIN
LOOP
v_somme:= v_somme+v_entier;
v_entier:= v_entier+ 1;
EXIT WHEN v_entier=10;
END LOOP;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('Somme = ' || v_somme);
END;
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4.3 Iterative control structures
 Solution
DECLARE
v_fac NUMBER := 1;
v_entier NUMBER(3) := 10;
BEGIN
LOOP
v_fac:= v_fac* v_entier;
v_entier:= v_entier-1;
EXIT WHEN v_entier=0;
END LOOP;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (‘10!= ' || v_fac);
END;
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4.3 Iterative control structures
 WHILE-LOOP
 The WHILE-LOOP instruction associates a condition of a sequence of instructions.
 Before each iteration of the loop, the condition is evaluated. If the condition is true,
the sequence of instructions is executed, then control resumes at the start of the
loop.
 If the condition is false or null, the loop is skipped and control proceeds to the next
statement (after the END LOOP).
 Syntax:
WHILE condition LOOP
--instructions;
END LOOP;

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4.3 Iterative control structures
 WHILE-LOOP
DECLARE
v_somme NUMBER(4) := 0;
v_entier NUMBER(3) := 1;
BEGIN
WHILE (v_entier<=5) LOOP
v_somme:= v_somme+v_entier;
v_entier:= v_entier+ 1;
END LOOP;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('Somme = ‘ | | v_somme);
END;

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4.3 Iterative control structures
 FOR-LOOP
 The FOR-LOOP loop, called counter, makes it possible to carry out an iterative loop
associated with an integer variable which will be incremented at each iteration.
 The general syntax of the FOR-LOOP structure is as follows:

 The number of iterations is known in advance even before the start of the loop.
 We use a colon (..) as an interval operator.
 The step of the FOR loop is always 1.

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4.3 Iterative control structures
 Exercise
 Calculate the sum of the first 50 integers.
 Calculate the factorial of 9.

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4.3 Iterative control structures
 Solution
DECLARE
v_somme NUMBER(4) := 0;
BEGIN
FOR v_compteur IN 1..50 LOOP
v_somme:= v_somme+ v_compteur;
END LOOP;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('La somme= ' || v_somme);
END;

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4.3 Iterative control structures
 Solution
DECLARE
v_fact NUMBER := 1;
BEGIN
FOR v_compteur IN 1..9 LOOP
v_fact:= v_fact* v_compteur;
END LOOP;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('le factoriel= ‘ | | v_fact);
END;

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4.3 Iterative control structures
 NB1:
 Inside the FOR loop, the counter cannot be changed
FOR v_compteur IN 1..9 LOOP
…
v_compteur:=8; /*expression 'V_COMPTEUR' cannot be used as an assignment target
*/
END LOOP;
 NB2:
 the counter variable of the FOR is only accessible inside of the loop.
FOR v_compteur IN 1..9 LOOP
…
END LOOP;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (v_compteur); --'V_COMPTEUR’ must be declared

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