Oracle and PL/SQL Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach

1-8. Referencing a Block of Code

Problem

You want to reference a block of code within a code segment later in your program.

Solution

Assign a label to the block of code that you want to reference. A PL/SQL label consists of a unique identifier surrounded by double angle brackets. For example, in the following code, you see that the block has been labeled dept_block:

<<dept_block>> DECLARE   dept_name    varchar2(30); BEGIN   SELECT department_name   INTO dept_name   FROM departments WHERE department_id = 230;   DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(dept_name); END;

This code block can now be referenced by the label dept_block. See Recipe 1-9 for one example of code block labels.

How It Works

Any block of code can be labeled with a unique identifier for readability ...