Oracle PL/SQL for DBAs

The Semicolon Delimiter

A PL/SQL program is made up of a series of declarations and statements. These are defined logically, as opposed to physically. In other words, they are not terminated with the physical end of a line of code; instead, they are terminated with a semicolon (;). In fact, a single statement is often spread over several lines to make it more readable. The following IF statement takes up four lines and is indented to reinforce the logic behind the statement:

    IF salary < min_salary (2003)
    THEN
       salary := salary + salary * .25;
    END IF;

There are two semicolons in this IF statement. The first semicolon indicates the end of the single executable statement within the IF-END IF construct. The second semicolon terminates the IF statement itself.