How to get input from user at runtime

Question

I want to take runtime input from user in Oracle 10g PL/SQL blocks (i.e. interactive communication with user). Is it possible?

declare
x number;
begin
x=&x;
end

this code gives error as

& can't be used in oracle 10g

Answer 1

To read the user input and store it in a variable, for later use, you can use SQL*Plus command ACCEPT.

Accept <your variable> <variable type if needed [number|char|date]> prompt 'message'

example

accept x number prompt 'Please enter something: '

And then you can use the x variable in a PL/SQL block as follows:

declare 
  a number;
begin
  a := &x;
end;
/

Working with a string example:

accept x char prompt 'Please enter something: '

declare 
  a varchar2(10);
begin
  a := '&x';   -- for a substitution variable of char data type 
end;           -- to be treated as a character string it needs
/              -- to be enclosed with single quotation marks