Oracle PL/SQL Programming: A Developer's Workbook

Chapter 14. Procedures, Functions, and Blocks

Beginner

Q:
14-1.	A procedure executes one or more statements and then terminates. A function executes one or more statements and then returns a result via the RETURN statement.
Q:
14-2.	Procedures and functions are composed of the following four sections: Section Description Optional or Required? Header The “signature” of the program: its name, parameter list (if any), and RETURN clause if a function Required Declaration A series of declarations of data structures and TYPEs that exist only for the duration of the execution of the program Optional; you do not have to declare any local data elements Execution One or more executable statements performed by the program Required; both procedures and functions must have at least one executable statement to be valid Exception One or more exception handler clauses that trap and handle errors that occur in the executable section Optional
Q:
14-3.	Use the RETURN statement to return a value from a function. It has the following format: RETURN expression; where expression is a literal, variable, or complex expression whose datatype matches (or can be converted to) the datatype in the function’s header’s RETURN clause. You can use RETURN inside a procedure, but you may not specify data to be returned. Instead you simply state: RETURN; The procedure immediately terminates and returns control to the enclosing block. You should avoid using RETURN in a procedure, however, because it leads to unstructured code that is hard to read ...