PLSQL: Query value and stick it in another query - oracle

Question

I'm trying to select a value from a one row table and stick it in my bigger query like below:
select person.first_name,
(select active_year.year from active_year) as YEAR -- should be '2022'
from person where person.last_name = 'Smith'
The year select returns an error:
ORA-00907: missing right parenthesis
How can I return the year field?

Answer 1

Looks like you're misinterpreting reality, because that query won't return what you reported.
Sample data:
SQL> select * from person;
FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME
-------------------- --------------------
John Smith
SQL> select * from active_year;
YEAR
----------
2002
Your query, literally:
SQL> select person.first_name,
2 (select active_year.year from active_year) as YEAR -- should be '2022'
3 from person where person.last_name = 'Smith'
4 ;
FIRST_NAME YEAR
-------------------- ----------
John 2002
SQL>
Even if it were PL/SQL, it wouldn't work - but due to a different error:
SQL> begin
2 select person.first_name,
3 (select active_year.year from active_year) as YEAR -- should be '2022'
4 from person where person.last_name = 'Smith'
5 ;
6 end;
7 /
select person.first_name,
*
ERROR at line 2:
ORA-06550: line 2, column 1:
PLS-00428: an INTO clause is expected in this SELECT statement
SQL>
Therefore, it seems that you didn't post exactly what you did.

Answer 2

With sample data like this
WITH
person AS
(
Select 'John' "FIRST_NAME", 'Doe' "LAST_NAME" From Dual UNION ALL
Select 'John' "FIRST_NAME", 'Smith' "LAST_NAME" From Dual UNION ALL
Select 'Marry' "FIRST_NAME", 'Smith' "LAST_NAME" From Dual UNION ALL
Select 'Alice' "FIRST_NAME", 'Freeman' "LAST_NAME" From Dual UNION ALL
Select 'Mike' "FIRST_NAME", 'Freeman' "LAST_NAME" From Dual UNION ALL
Select 'Robert' "FIRST_NAME", 'Harris' "LAST_NAME" From Dual
),
active_year AS
(
Select 2022 "ACT_YEAR" From Dual
)
Your select works ok (tested on 11gR2)
SELECT
p.FIRST_NAME,
(Select ACT_YEAR From active_year) "YEAR"
FROM
person p
WHERE
p.LAST_NAME = 'Smith'
--
-- R e s u l t
--
-- FIRST_NAME YEAR
-- ---------- ----------
-- John 2022
-- Marry 2022
I don't know what is the problem,but there is another way to get the same result if active_year is a one row table.
Try to put it this way - as a joined table to your bigger query. It will work.
SELECT
p.FIRST_NAME "FIRST_NAME",
a.ACT_YEAR "YEAR"
FROM
person p
INNER JOIN
active_year a ON(1 = 1)
WHERE
p.LAST_NAME = 'Smith'
--
-- R e s u l t
--
-- FIRST_NAME YEAR
-- ---------- ----------
-- John 2022
-- Marry 2022
All the above is SQL and if you have this select in PL/SQL it will work as a CURSOR definition, but inside the block you will have to insert an INTO clause to store the values in variables and then do whatever you want to do. In that case you should be sure not to select more than one row because an error will be raised...
Declare
varName VarChar2(50);
varYear Number(4);
Begin
SELECT p.FIRST_NAME "FIRST_NAME", a.ACT_YEAR "YEAR"
INTO varName, varYear
FROM person p
INNER JOIN active_year a ON(1 = 1)
WHERE p.LAST_NAME = 'Harris';
End;