What is the simplest way to define a local variable in Oracle? - oracle

Question

In the SQL Server, I can define local variables like this.
declare #id number := 1000
select * from tbl_A where id = #id;
select * from tbl_B where id = #id;
It is very convenient.
I tried to do same thing in PL/SQL but it doesn't work.
DECLARE id number;
select 1000 into id from dual;
Do you know how to do something similar? The simplest method is my objective.

Answer 1

If you want to define a local variable in PL/SQL, you need a complete PL/SQL block
DECLARE
id NUMBER;
BEGIN
SELECT 1000
INTO id
FROM dual;
END;
or just
DECLARE
id NUMBER := 1000;
BEGIN
<<do something that uses the local variable>>
END;
If you want to declare a variable in SQL*Plus
SQL> variable id number
SQL> begin
select 1000 into :id from dual;
end;
/
SQL> print id
ID
----------
1000
SQL> SELECT * FROM tbl_a WHERE id = :id

Answer 2

An alternative to DECLARE Block is to use a WITH Clause:
WITH my_params AS (
SELECT 123 AS min_id FROM DUAL
)
SELECT *
FROM some_table
WHERE id > (SELECT min_id FROM my_params)
It is more portable as many vendors support the WITH clause and you can change seamless from parameter to dynamic value. For example:
WITH my_params AS (
SELECT min(id) AS min_id FROM some_id_table
)
SELECT *
FROM some_table
WHERE id > (SELECT min_id FROM my_params)

Answer 3

Solution for Oracle SQL
DEF x = foo
SELECT '&x' FROM dual;
The result will be : foo
NB: The variable will keep the value even after execution. To clear variable run UNDEFINE x.

Answer 4

General syntax to declare variable in PL/SQL is
var_nm datatype [NOT NULL := var_value ];
var_nn is the name of the variable.
datatype is a valid PL/SQL datatype.
NOT NULL is an optional specification on the variable which this variable cannot be assigned null value.
var_value or DEFAULT value is also an optional specification, where you can initialize a variable with some specific value.
Each variable declaration is a separate statement and must be terminated by a semicolon.
We can assign value to variables in one of the following two ways -
direct assignment (Eg. var_nm:= var_value;)
Using select from (Eg. SELECT col_nm INTO var_nm FROM tbl_nm [WHERE clause];)
In you case as Justin Cave has already mentioned it can be
DECLARE
id number;
BEGIN
SELECT 1000 into id from dual;
dbms_output.put_line('id : '|| id );
END;
/
OR
DECLARE
id number := 1000;
BEGIN
dbms_output.put_line('id : '|| id );
END;
/
NOTE: '/' i.e Back slash after END keyword indicates to execute the above PL/SQL Block.

Answer 5

(Just stumbled across this thread.) Beginning with SQL*Plus 12.2, you can declare and assign a value at the same time:
SQL> var id number = 1000
SQL> select * from tbl_A where id = :id;
Oracle calls it input binding.
If you must do it in PL/SQL, the answer was given by others.