Using Oracle PL/SQL

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This document was written originally by Yu-May Chang and Jeff Ullman for CS145, Autumn 1997; revised by Jun Yang for Prof. Jennifer Widom's CS145 class in Spring, 1998; additional material by Jeff Ullman, Autumn 1998; further revisions by Jun Yang, Spring 1999; minor revisions by Jennifer Widom, Spring 2000.

Basic Structure of PL/SQL

PL/SQL stands for Procedural Language/SQL. PL/SQL extends SQL by adding constructs found in procedural languages, resulting in a structural language that is more powerful than SQL. The basic unit in PL/SQL is a block. All PL/SQL programs are made up of blocks, which can be nested within each other. Typically, each block performs a logical action in he program. A block has the following structure:

DECLARE
/* Declarative section: variables, types, and local subprograms. */

BEGIN
/* Executable section: procedural and SQL statements go here. */
/* This is the only section of the block that is required. */

EXCEPTION
/* Exception handling section: error handling statements go here. */

END;

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