How to write the following pl/sql block without using Cursor? - oracle

Question

I had written a cursor in a pl/sql block. This block taking lot of time if it has more records.
How to write this without a cursor or Is there any other alternative way that will reduce the time?
Is there any alternative query to perform insert into one table and delete from another table using a single query?
DECLARE
MDLCursor SYS_REFCURSOR;
BEGIN
open MDLCursor for
select dc.dest_id, dc.digits, dc.Effectivedate, dc.expirydate
from DialCodes dc
INNER JOIN MDL d
ON dc.Dest_ID = d.Dest_ID
AND d.PriceEntity = 1
join sysmdl_calltypes s
on s.call_type_id = v_CallType_ID
and s.dest_id = dc.Dest_ID
and s.call_type_id not in
(select calltype_id from ignore_calltype_for_routing)
order by length(dc.digits) desc, dc.digits desc;
loop
fetch MDLCursor
into v_mdldest_id, v_mdldigits, v_mdlEffectiveDate, v_mdlExpDate;
insert into tt_pendingcost_temp
(Dest_ID,
Digits,
CCASDigits,
Destination,
tariff_id,
NewCost,
Effectivedate,
ExpiryDate,
previous,
Currency)
select v_mdldest_id,
Digits,
v_mdldigits,
Destination,
tariff_id,
NewCost,
Effectivedate,
ExpiryDate,
previous,
Currency
FROM tt_PendingCost
where substr(Digits, 1, 2) = substr(v_MDLDigits, 1, 2)
and instr(Digits, v_MDLDigits) = 1
and v_mdlEffectiveDate <= effectivedate
and (v_mdlExpDate > effectivedate or v_mdlExpDate is null);
if SQL%ROWCOUNT > 0 then
delete FROM tt_PendingCost
where substr(Digits, 1, 2) = substr(v_MDLDigits, 1, 2)
and instr(Digits, v_MDLDigits) = 1
and v_mdlEffectiveDate <= effectivedate
and (v_mdlExpDate > effectivedate or v_mdlExpDate is null);
end if;
exit when MDLCursor%NOTFOUND;
end loop;
close MDLCursor;
END;

Answer 1

I don't have your tables and your data so I can only guess at a couple of things that would be slowing you down.
Firstly, the query used in your cursor has an ORDER BY clause in it. If this query returns a lot of rows, Oracle has to fetch them all and sort them all before it can return the first row. If this query typically returns a lot of results, and you don't particularly need it to return sorted results, you may find your PL/SQL block speeds up a bit if you drop the ORDER BY. That way, you can start getting results out of the cursor without needing to fetch all the results, store them somewhere and sort them first.
Secondly, the following is the WHERE clause used in your INSERT INTO ... SELECT ... and DELETE FROM ... statements:
where substr(Digits, 1, 2) = substr(v_MDLDigits, 1, 2)
and instr(Digits, v_MDLDigits) = 1
and v_mdlEffectiveDate <= effectivedate
and (v_mdlExpDate > effectivedate or v_mdlExpDate is null);
I don't see how Oracle can make effective use of indexes with any of these conditions. It would therefore have to do a full table scan each time.
The last two conditions seem reasonable and there doesn't seem a lot that can be done with them. I'd like to focus on the first two conditions as I think there's more scope for improvement with them.
The second of the four conditions is
instr(Digits, v_MDLDigits) = 1
This condition holds if and only if Digits starts with the contents of v_MDLDigits. A better way of writing this would be
Digits LIKE v_MDLDigits || '%'
The advantage of using LIKE in this situation instead of INSTR is that Oracle can make use of indexes when using LIKE. If you have an index on the Digits column, Oracle will be able to use it with this query. Oracle would then be able to focus in on those rows that start with the digits in v_MDLDigits instead of doing a full table scan.
The first of the four conditions is:
substr(Digits, 1, 2) = substr(v_MDLDigits, 1, 2)
If v_MDLDigits has length at least 2, and all entries in the Digits columns also have length at least 2, then this condition is redundant since it is implied by the previous one we looked at.
I'm not sure why you would have a condition like this. The only reason I can think why you might have this condition is if you have a functional index on substr(Digits, 1, 2). If not, I would be tempted to remove this substr condition altogether.
I don't think the cursor is what is making this procedure run slowly, and there's no single statement I know of that can insert into one table and delete from another. To make this procedure speed up I think you just need to tune the queries a bit.