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Oracle in a Nutshell
book

Oracle in a Nutshell

by Rick Greenwald, David C. Kreines
December 2002
Intermediate to advanced content levelIntermediate to advanced
928 pages
85h 29m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Oracle in a Nutshell

Block Structure

Each PL/SQL program is a block consisting of a standard set of elements, identified by keywords The block determines the scope of declared elements and controls how exceptions are handled and propagated.

The block structure has the following syntax:

[CREATE OR REPLACE name [(parameter 
                  datatype [,parameter 
                  datatype . . .])
        {IS | AS}]                        -- Header section
[[DECLARE]
        variable 
                  variable_type;
        [variable 
                  variable_type; . . .]  -- Declaration section
BEGIN
        execution_code;
        [execution_code; . . ]
END;                                 -- Execution section
[EXCEPTION
        exception_code;
        [exception_code; . . ] ]         -- Exception section

The sections are:

Header section

Provides the name of the block. Required for named blocks and not allowed for anonymous blocks.

Declaration section

Declares variables, constants, cursors, TYPEs, and local programs used in the block. Optional.

Execution section

Contains execution code. Generally used, but optional in package and TYPE specifications.

Exception section

Handles error conditions. Optional.

Descriptions of these four sections of code and their main characteristics follow.

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0596003366Errata Page