Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition

Name

VARIABLE

Synopsis

The VARIABLE command declares bind variables. Bind variables are discussed in Chapter 7. They are real variables that can be used within a PL/SQL block or SQL statement.

Syntax

VAR[IABLE] variable_name 
                  data_type

Parameters

VAR[IABLE]

Is the command, which may be abbreviated VAR.

variable_name

Is whatever name you want to give the variable. A variable name must start with a letter, but after that the name may contain any combination of letters, digits, underscores, pound signs, and dollar signs. Thirty characters is the maximum length for a variable name.

data_type

Is the datatype of the variable. The following datatypes are allowed:

NUMBER

Results in a floating-point number and is the same as a NUMBER variable in PL/SQL or a NUMBER column in a table. Unlike PL/SQL, SQL*Plus doesn't let you specify a length or a precision, so a declaration like NUMBER (9,2) wouldn't be allowed.

BINARY_FLOAT

Results in a BINARY_FLOAT value. Not available before Oracle9i Database.

BINARY_DOUBLE

Results in a BINARY_DOUBLE value. Not available before Oracle9i Database.

CHAR [(length)]

Results in a fixed-length character string. length is optional. If it is omitted, you get a one-character string.

NCHAR [(length)]

Results in a fixed-length character string in the national character set. Length is optional. If it is omitted, you get a one-character string.

VARCHAR2 (length)

Results in a variable-length character string.

NVARCHAR2 (length)

Results in a variable-length character string using the national ...