Despite having spent an hour researching I can't seem to figure out how to correctly define a variable and then use it in your SQL.
This is what I have so far produced:
DECLARE startDate DATE := to_date('03/11/2011', 'dd/mm/yyyy');
of which I get the reply:
ORA-06550: line 1, column 63: PLS-00103: Encountered the symbol "end-of-file" when expecting one of the following:
begin function package pragma procedure subtype type use form current cursor
Details: DECLARE startDate DATE := to_date('03/11/2011', 'dd/mm/yyyy'); Error at line 1 ORA-06550: line 1, column 63: PLS-00103: Encountered the symbol "end-of-file" when expecting one of the following:
begin function package pragma procedure subtype type use form current cursor
I'd love to find out how to do such a simple task!
Your variable declaration is correct.
The DECLARE
keyword is used to define variables scoped in a PL/SQL block (whose body is delimited by BEGIN
and END;
). How do you want to use this variable?
The following PL/SQL works fine for me:
DECLARE
startDate DATE := to_date('03/11/2011', 'dd/mm/yyyy');
reccount INTEGER;
BEGIN
SELECT count(*) INTO reccount
FROM my_table tab
WHERE tab.somedate < startDate;
dbms_output.put_line(reccount);
END;
You can also use the DEFINE
statement to use simple string substitution variables. They are suitable for a client like SQL/PLUS or TOAD.
DEFINE start_date = "to_date('03/11/2011', 'dd/mm/yyyy')"
SELECT COUNT(*) from my_table tab where tab.some_date < &start_date;