How to return two types in pl/sql oracle - oracle

Question

How to return two types in pl/sql oracle?
return number -- here I tell than function reurns number, but i want to return number and string when an exception is thrown
is
prPrice number; -- product price
curFrom number; -- price
pgcount number := 0; -- product count
noProductsOnDate EXCEPTION;
wrongCurrency EXCEPTION;
begin
SELECT COUNT(*) INTO pgcount
from Products pr, Outgoing outg, Incoming inc
where pr.PROD_ID = outg.PROD_ID and pr.PROD_ID = inc.PROD_ID and inc.inc_date > d
Having sum(inc.quantity) > sum(outg.quantity);
if pgcount = 0 or pgcount is null then
raise noProductsOnDate;
END IF;
if curTo > 2 OR curTo < 1 then
raise wrongCurrency;
end if;
If curTo = 1
then curFrom := 2;
Elsif curTo = 2
then curFrom := 1;
END IF;
select pric.Value*cour.value into prPrice from Prices pric, Cources cour
where p = pric.prod_id and pric.DAYFROM <= d and (pric.DAYTO >= d or pric.DAYTO is null) and cour.cur_idto = curTo and cour.cur_idfrom = curFrom;
return prPrice; -- here i wanna return number
exception
when noProductsOnDate then return '1q'; -- here i wanna return string (error message)
when wrongCurrency then return '2q'; -- here i wanna return string (error message)
end;
I can't return string in exception, because function return number
Maybe I doing something wrong,
Please, tell me how can I return several data types from one function, maybe I should do everything differently, but I don't understand how to do it ((

Answer 1

You can't do it that way, but can another way around - declare function to return varchar2. Then, in your code, you can
create function ...
return varchar2
is
begin
... do whatever you're doing
return to_char(poPrice);
exception
when ... then return '1q';
end;

Answer 2

I write my functions often in this form:
return 0 in case of success
return a positive number in case of a warning (often not used)
return a negative number in case of an error
And I use out parameters for the function results, in your case the price and/or a message.
Something along the lines of:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION my_function(vi_date IN DATE,
vo_price OUT NUMBER,
vo_msg OUT VARCHAR) RETURN INTEGER IS
BEGIN
...
IF pgcount = 0 OR pgcount IS NULL THEN
vo_msg := 'No products on that date.';
RETURN -20001; -- return custom error code
END IF;
...
IF vo_price < 0 THEN
vo_msg := 'Price is negative. Calculation my be wrong.';
RETURN 1; -- return warning flag (positive number)
ELSE
RETURN 0; -- means success
END IF;
EXCEPTION WHEN OTHERS THEN
-- Error. Return negative number. SQLCODE is always the negative ORA code
-- except for ORA-1403 which is strangely SQLCODE 100 instead
vo_msg := SQLERRM;
RETURN CASE WHEN SQLCODE = 100 THEN -1403 ELSE SQLCODE END;
END my_function;
Then call it like this:
DECLARE
v_code INTEGER;
v_price NUMBER (10,2);
v_msg VARCHAR(1000);
BEGIN
v_code := my_function(DATE '2022-09-29', v_price, v_msg);
IF v_code >= 0 THEN
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('The price is: ' || v_price);
END IF;
IF v_code <> 0 THEN
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Message: ' || v_msg);
END IF;
END;