Using Dynamic SQL

• Overview

• Using DBMS_SQL

• Procedures and Functions

• Examples
This chapter describes the dynamic SQL package, DBMS_SQL. The following topics are described in
this chapter:
• the differences between the DBMS_SQL package and the Oracle Call Interfaces

• using the DBMS_SQL package to execute DDL

• procedures and functions provided in the DBMS_SQL package

Overview
You can write stored procedures and anonymous PL/SQL blocks that use dynamic SQL. Dynamic SQL
statements are not embedded in your source program; rather, they are stored in character strings that are
input to, or built by, the program at runtime.
This permits you to create procedures that are more general purpose. For example,
using dynamic SQL allows you to create a procedure that operates on a table whose
name is not known until runtime.
Additionally, you can parse any data manipulation language (DML) or data definition
language (DDL) statement using the DBMS_SQL package. This helps solve the
problem of not being able to parse data definition language statements directly using
PL/SQL. For example, you might now choose to issue a DROP TABLE statement
from within a stored procedure by using the PARSE procedure supplied with the
DBMS_SQL package.

Creating the DBMS_SQL Package

To create the DBMS_SQL package, submit the DBMSSQL.SQL and PRVTSQL.PLB scripts when
connected as the user SYS. These scripts are run automatically by the CATPROC.SQL script. See page
7 - 39 for information on granting the necessary privileges to users who will be executing this package.

Using DBMS_SQL
The ability to use dynamic SQL from within stored procedures generally follows the model of the
Oracle Call Interface (OCI). You should refer to the Programmer's Guide to the Oracle Call Interface
for additional information on the concepts presented in this chapter.
PL/SQL differs somewhat from other common programming languages, such as C.
For example, addresses (also called pointers) are not user visible in PL/SQL. As a
result, there are some differences between the Oracle Call Interface and the
DBMS_SQL package. These differences include the following:
• The OCI uses bind by address, while the DBMS_SQL package uses bind by value.

• With DBMS_SQL you must call VARIABLE_VALUE to retrieve the value of an OUT
parameter for an anonymous block, and you must call COLUMN_VALUE after fetching rows
to actually retrieve the values of the columns in the rows into your program.
 • The current release of the DBMS_SQL package does not provide DESCRIBE or CANCEL
cursor procedures, nor support for the array interface.

• Indicator variables are not required because nulls are fully supported as values of a PL/SQL
variable.
A sample usage of the DBMS_SQL package is shown below. For users of the Oracle Call Interfaces,
this code should seem fairly straightforward. Each of the functions and procedures used in this example
is described later in this chapter. A more detailed example, which shows how you can use the
DBMS_SQL package to build a query statement dynamically, begins . This example does not actually
require the use of dynamic SQL, because the text of the statement is known at compile time. However,
it illustrates the concepts of this package.
/* The DEMO procedure deletes all of the employees from the EMP
* table whose salaries are greater than the salary that you
* specify when you run DEMO. */

CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE demo(salary IN NUMBER) AS

cursor_name INTEGER;
rows_processed INTEGER;
BEGIN
cursor_name := dbms_sql.open_cursor;
dbms_sql.parse(cursor_name, 'DELETE FROM emp WHERE sal > :x',
dbms_sql.v7);
dbms_sql.bind_variable(cursor_name, ':x', salary);
rows_processed := dbms_sql.execute(cursor_name);
dbms_sql.close_cursor(cursor_name);
EXCEPTION
WHEN OTHERS THEN
dbms_sql.close_cursor(cursor_name);
END;

Execution Flow
The typical flow of procedure calls is shown in Figure 11-1. A general explanation of these procedures
follows. Each of these procedures is described in greater detail starting .
Figure 10 - 1. DBMS_SQL Execution Flow
OPEN_CURSOR
To process a SQL statement, you must have an open cursor. When you call the OPEN_CURSOR
function, you receive a cursor ID number for the data structure representing a valid cursor maintained
by Oracle. These cursors are distinct from cursors defined at the precompiler, OCI, or PL/SQL level,
and are used only by the DBMS_SQL package.
PARSE
Every SQL statement must be parsed by calling the PARSE procedure. Parsing the statement checks
the statement's syntax and associates it with the cursor in your program. A complete explanation of how
SQL statements are parsed is included in the Oracle7 Server Tuning manual.
You can parse any data manipulation language or data definition language statements.
Data definition language statements are executed on the parse, which performs the
implied commit.
Attention: When parsing a data definition language statement to drop a package or a
procedure, a deadlock can occur if a procedure in the package is still in use by you.
After a call to a procedure, that procedure is considered to be in use until execution
has returned to the user side. Any such deadlock will timeout after five minutes.
BIND_VARIABLE
Many data manipulation language statements require that data in your program be input to Oracle.
When you define a SQL statement that contains input data to be supplied at runtime, you must use
placeholders in the SQL statement to mark where data must be supplied.
For each placeholder in the SQL statement, you must call the BIND_VARIABLE
procedure to supply the value of a variable in your program to the placeholder. When
the SQL statement is subsequently executed, Oracle uses the data that your program
has placed in the output and input, or bind, variables.
DEFINE_COLUMN
The columns of the row being selected in a SELECT statement are identified by their relative positions
as they appear in the select list, from left to right. For a query, you must call DEFINE_COLUMN to
specify the variables that are to receive the SELECT values, much the way an INTO clause does for a
static query.
DEFINE_COLUMN_LONG
You use the DEFINE_COLUMN_LONG procedure to define LONG columns, in the same way that
DEFINE_COLUMN is used to define non-LONG columns. You must call
DEFINE_COLUMN_LONG before using the COLUMN_VALUE_LONG to fetch from the LONG
column.
EXECUTE
Call the EXECUTE function to execute your SQL statement.
FETCH_ROWS
Call FETCH_ROWS to retrieve the rows that satisfy the query. Each successive fetch retrieves another
row, until the fetch is unable to retrieve anymore rows. Instead of calling EXECUTE and then
FETCH_ROWS, you may find it more efficient to call EXECUTE_AND_FETCH if you are calling
EXECUTE for a single iteration.
VARIABLE_VALUE
For queries, call COLUMN_VALUE to determine the value of a column retrieved by the
FETCH_ROWS call. For anonymous blocks containing calls to PL/SQL procedures, call
VARIABLE_VALUE to retrieve the values assigned to the output variables of the PL/SQL procedures
when they were executed.
COLUMN_VALUE_LONG
To fetch just part of a LONG database column (which can be up to two gigabytes in size), you use the
COLUMN_VALUE_LONG procedure. You can specify the offset (in bytes) into the column value, and
the number of bytes to fetch.
CLOSE_CURSOR
When you no longer need a cursor for a session, close the cursor by calling CLOSE_CURSOR. If you
are using an Oracle Open Gateway, you may need to close cursors at other times as well. Consult your
Oracle Open Gateway documentation for additional information. If you neglect to close a cursor, the
memory used by that cursor remains allocated even though it is no longer needed.

Security
This section describes the security domain for DBMS_SQL procedures when you are using the Oracle
Server or Trusted Oracle Server.
For Oracle Server Users
Any DBMS_SQL procedures called from an anonymous PL/SQL block are executed using the
privileges of the current user. Any DBMS_SQL procedures called from a stored procedure are executed
using the privileges of the owner of the stored procedure.
For Trusted Oracle Server Users
Any DBMS_SQL procedures called from an anonymous PL/SQL block are executed using the
privileges of the current user. Any DBMS_SQL procedures called from a stored procedure are executed
using the discretionary access control (DAC) and system privileges of the owner of the stored
procedure and the mandatory access control (MAC) privileges of the current user.

Procedures and Functions

Table 10 - 1 provides a brief description of each of the procedures and functions associated with the
DBMS_SQL package, which are described in detail later in this chapter. An example of how these
functions can be used begins .
Function/Procedure Description Refer to
Page
OPEN_CURSOR Return cursor ID number of new cursor. 10 - 9
PARSE Parse given statement. 10 - 9
BIND_VARIABLE Bind a given value to a given variable. 10 - 10
DEFINE_COLUMN Define a column to be selected from the given cursor, used 10 - 12
only with SELECT statements.
DEFINE_COLUMN_LONG Define a LONG column to be selected from the given cursor, 10 - 14
used only with SELECT statements.
EXECUTE Execute a given cursor. 10 - 14
EXECUTE_AND_FETCH Execute a given cursor and fetch rows. 10 - 15
FETCH_ROWS Fetch a row from a given cursor. 10 - 15
COLUMN_VALUE Returns value of the cursor element for a given position in a 10 - 16
cursor.
COLUMN_VALUE_LONG Returns a selected part of a LONG column, that has been 10 - 17
defined using DEFINE_COLUMN_LONG.
VARIABLE_VALUE Returns value of named variable for given cursor. 10 - 18
IS_OPEN Returns TRUE if given cursor is open. 10 - 20
CLOSE_CURSOR Closes given cursor and frees memory. 10 - 20
LAST_ERROR_POSITION Returns byte offset in the SQL statement text where the error 10 - 21
occurred.
LAST_ROW_COUNT Returns cumulative count of the number of rows fetched. 10 - 21
LAST_ROW_ID Returns ROWID of last row processed. 10 - 21
LAST_SQL_ Returns SQL function code for statement. 10 - 21
FUNCTION_CODE

Table 10 - 1. DBMS_SQL Package Functions and Procedures

OPEN_CURSOR Function
Call OPEN_CURSOR to open a new cursor. When you no longer need this cursor, you must close it
explicitly by calling CLOSE_CURSOR.
You can use cursors to execute the same SQL statement repeatedly or to execute a
new SQL statement. When a cursor is reused, the contents of the corresponding cursor
data area are reset when the new SQL statement is parsed. It is never necessary to
close and reopen a cursor before reusing it.
Syntax
The OPEN_CURSOR function returns the cursor ID number of the new cursor. The syntax for this
function is
DBMS_SQL.OPEN_CURSOR RETURN INTEGER;

PARSE Procedure
Call PARSE to parse the given statement in the given cursor. Currently, unlike the OCI OPARSE call,
which supports deferred parsing, all statements are parsed immediately. This may change in future
versions; you should not rely on this behavior.
Syntax
The parameters for the PARSE procedure are described in Table 10 - 2. The syntax for this procedure is
DBMS_SQL.PARSE(
c IN INTEGER,
statement IN VARCHAR2,
language_flag IN INTEGER);
Parameter Description
c Specify the ID number of the cursor in which to parse the statement.
statement Provide the SQL statement to be parsed. Your SQL statement should not include a
final semicolon.
language_ This parameter determines how Oracle handles the SQL statement. The following
flag options are recognized for this parameter:
V6 - specified Version 6 behavior V7 - specifies Oracle7 behavior NATIVE - specifies
normal behavior for the database to which the program is connected.

Table 10 - 2. DBMS_SQL.PARSE Procedure Parameters

BIND_VARIABLE Procedures
Call BIND_VARIABLE to bind a given value to a given variable in a cursor, based on the name of the
variable in the statement. If the variable is an IN or IN/OUT variable, the given bind value must be
valid for the variable type. Bind values for OUT variables are ignored.
The bind variables of a SQL statement are identified by their names. When binding a
value to a bind variable, the string identifying the bind variable in the statement must
contain a leading colon, as shown in the following example:
SELECT emp_name FROM emp WHERE SAL > :X;
For this example, the corresponding bind call would look similar to
BIND_VARIABLE(cursor_name, ':X', 3500);
Syntax
The parameters for the BIND_VARIABLE procedures are described in Table 10 - 3. The syntax for
these procedures is shown below. Notice that the BIND_VARIABLE procedure is overloaded to accept
different datatypes.
DBMS_SQL.BIND_VARIABLE(c IN INTEGER,
name IN VARCHAR2,
value IN <datatype>);
where <datatype> can be any one of the following types:
NUMBER
DATE
MLSLABEL
VARCHAR2
The following syntax is also supported for the BIND_VARIABLE procedure. The
square brackets [] indicate optional parameters.
DBMS_SQL.BIND_VARIABLE(
c IN INTEGER,
name IN VARCHAR2,
value IN VARCHAR2
[,out_value_size IN INTEGER]);

DBMS_SQL.BIND_VARIABLE_CHAR(
c IN INTEGER,
name IN VARCHAR2,
value IN CHAR
[,out_value_size IN INTEGER]);

DBMS_SQL.BIND_VARIABLE_RAW(
c IN INTEGER,
name IN VARCHAR2,
value IN RAW
[,out_value_size IN INTEGER]);
DBMS_SQL.BIND_VARIABLE_ROWID(
c IN INTEGER,
name IN VARCHAR2,
value IN ROWID);
Parameter Description
c Specify the ID number of the cursor to which you want to bind a value.
name Provide the name of the variable in the statement.
value Provide the value that you want to bind to the variable in the cursor. For IN and
IN/OUT variables, the value has the same type as the type of the value being
passed in for this parameter.
out_value_size The maximum expected OUT value size, in bytes, for the VARCHAR2, RAW,
CHAR OUT or IN/OUT variable. If no size is given, the length of the current
value is used.

Table 10 - 3. DBMS_SQL.BIND_VARIABLE Procedure Parameters

Processing Queries
If you are using dynamic SQL to process a query, you must perform the following steps:
1. Specify the variables that are to receive the values returned by the SELECT statement by
calling DEFINE_COLUMN.
2. Execute your SELECT statement by calling EXECUTE.
3. Call FETCH_ROWS (or EXECUTE_AND_FETCH) to retrieve the rows that satisfied your
query.
4. Call COLUMN_VALUE to determine the value of a column retrieved by the
FETCH_ROWS call for your query. If you used anonymous blocks containing calls to
PL/SQL procedures, you must call VARIABLE_VALUE to retrieve the values assigned to the
output variables of these procedures.
DEFINE_COLUMN Procedure
This procedure is only used with SELECT cursors. Call DEFINE_COLUMN to define a column to be
selected from the given cursor. The column being defined is identified by its relative position in the
SELECT list of the statement in the given cursor. The type of the COLUMN value determines the type
of the column being defined.
Syntax
The parameters for the DEFINE_COLUMN procedure are described in Table 10 - 4. The syntax for
this procedure is shown below. Notice that this procedure is overloaded to accept different datatypes.
DBMS_SQL.DEFINE_COLUMN(
c IN INTEGER,
position IN INTEGER
column IN <datatype>);
where <datatype> can be any one of the following types:
NUMBER
DATE
MLSLABEL
The following syntax is also supported for the DEFINE_COLUMN procedure:
DBMS_SQL.DEFINE_COLUMN(
c IN INTEGER,
position IN INTEGER,
column IN VARCHAR2,
column_size IN INTEGER);

DBMS_SQL.DEFINE_COLUMN_CHAR(
c IN INTEGER,
position IN INTEGER,
column IN CHAR,
column_size IN INTEGER);

DBMS_SQL.DEFINE_COLUMN_RAW(
c IN INTEGER,
position IN INTEGER,
column IN RAW,
column_size IN INTEGER);

DBMS_SQL.DEFINE_COLUMN_ROWID(
c IN INTEGER,
position IN INTEGER,
column IN ROWID);
Parameter Description
c The ID number of the cursor for the row being defined to be selected.
position The relative position of the column in the row being defined. The first column in a
statement has position 1.
column The value of the column being defined. The type of this value determines the type for
the column being defined.
column_size The maximum expected size of the column value, in bytes, for columns of type
VARCHAR2, CHAR, and RAW.

Table 10 - 4. DBMS_SQL.DEFINE_COLUMN Procedure Parameters

DEFINE_COLUMN_ LONG Procedure

Call this procedure to define a LONG column for a SELECT cursor. The column being defined is
identified by its relative position in the SELECT list of the statement for the given cursor. The type of
the COLUMN value determines the type of the column being defined.
Syntax
The parameters of DEFINE_COLUMN_LONG are described in Table 10 - 5. The syntax is
DBMS_SQL.DEFINE_COLUMN_LONG(
c IN INTEGER,
position IN INTEGER);
Parameter Description
c The ID number of the cursor for the row being defined to be selected.
position The relative position of the column in the row being defined. The first column in a
statement has position 1.

Table 10 - 5. DBMS_SQL.DEFINE_COLUMN_LONG Procedure Parameters

EXECUTE Function
Call EXECUTE to execute a given cursor. This function accepts the ID number of the cursor and
returns the number of rows processed. The return value is only valid for INSERT, UPDATE, and
DELETE statements; for other types of statements, including DDL, the return value is undefined and
should be ignored.
Syntax
The syntax for the EXECUTE function is
DBMS_SQL.EXECUTE (
c IN INTEGER)
RETURN INTEGER;

EXECUTE_AND_FETCH Function
Call EXECUTE_AND_FETCH to execute the given cursor and fetch rows. This function provides the
same functionality as calling EXECUTE and then calling FETCH_ROWS. Calling
EXECUTE_AND_FETCH instead, however, may cut down on the number of network round-trips
when used against a remote database.
Syntax
The EXECUTE_AND_FETCH function returns the number of rows actually fetched. The parameters
for this procedure are described in Table 10 - 6, and the syntax is shown below.
DBMS_SQL.EXECUTE_AND_FETCH(
c IN INTEGER,
exact IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE)
RETURN INTEGER;
Parameter Description
c Specify the ID number of the cursor to execute and fetch.
exact Set to TRUE to raise an exception if the number of rows actually matching the query differs
from one. Even if an exception is raised, the rows are still fetched and available.

Table 10 - 6. DBMS_SQL.EXECUTE_AND_FETCH Function Parameters

FETCH_ROWS Function
Call FETCH_ROWS to fetch a row from a given cursor. You can call FETCH_ROWS repeatedly as
long as there are rows remaining to be fetched. These rows are retrieved into a buffer, and must be read
by calling COLUMN_VALUE, for each column, after each call to FETCH_ROWS.
Syntax
The FETCH_ROWS function accepts the ID number of the cursor to fetch, and returns the number of
rows actually fetched. The syntax for this function is shown below.
DBMS_SQL.FETCH_ROWS(
c IN INTEGER)
RETURN INTEGER;

COLUMN_VALUE Procedure
This procedure returns the value of the cursor element for a given position in a given cursor. This
procedure is used to access the data fetched by calling FETCH_ROWS.
Syntax
The parameters for the COLUMN_VALUE procedure are described in Table 10 - 7. The syntax for this
procedure is shown below. The square brackets [] indicate optional parameters.
DBMS_SQL.COLUMN_VALUE(
c IN INTEGER,
position IN INTEGER,
value OUT <datatype>,
[,column_error OUT NUMBER]
[,actual_length OUT INTEGER]);
where <datatype> can be any one of the following types:
NUMBER
DATE
MLSLABEL
VARCHAR2
The following syntax is also supported for the COLUMN_VALUE procedure:
DBMS_SQL.COLUMN_VALUE_CHAR(
c IN INTEGER,
position IN INTEGER,
value OUT CHAR
[,column_error OUT NUMBER]
[,actual_length OUT INTEGER]);

DBMS_SQL.COLUMN_VALUE_RAW(
c IN INTEGER,
position IN INTEGER,
value OUT RAW
[,column_error OUT NUMBER]
[,actual_length OUT INTEGER]);

dbms_sql.column_value_rowid(
c IN INTEGER,
position IN INTEGER,
value OUT ROWID
[,column_error OUT NUMBER]
[,actual_length OUT INTEGER]);
Parameter Mode Description
c IN Specify the ID number of the cursor from which you are fetching the values.
position IN Specify the relative position of the column in the cursor. The first column in a
statement has position 1.
value OUT Returns the value at the specified column and row. If the row number specified is
greater than the total number of rows fetched, you receive an error message.
 Oracle raises exception ORA-06562, inconsistent_type, if the type of this output
parameter differs from the actual type of the value, as defined by the call to
DEFINE_COLUMN.
column_ OUT Returns any error code for the specified column value.
error
actual_ OUT Returns the actual length, before any truncation, of the value in the specified
length column.

Table 10 - 7. DBMS_SQL.COLUMN_VALUE Procedure Parameters

COLUMN_VALUE_LONG Procedure
This procedure returns the value of the cursor element for a given position, offset, and size in a given
cursor. This procedure is used to access the data fetched by calling FETCH_ROWS.
Syntax
The parameters of the COLUMN_VALUE_LONG procedure are described in Table 10 - 8. The syntax
of the procedure is
DBMS_SQL.COLUMN_VALUE_LONG(
c IN INTEGER,
position IN INTEGER,
length IN INTEGER,
offset IN INTEGER,
value OUT VARCHAR2,
value_length OUT INTEGER);
Parameter Description
c The ID number of the cursor for the row being defined to be selected.
position The relative position of the column in the row being defined. The first column in a
statement has position 1.
length The length in bytes of the segment of the column value that is to be selected.
offset The byte position in the LONG column at which the SELECT is to start.
value The value of the column segment to be SELECTed.
value_length The (returned) length of the value that was SELECTed.

Table 10 - 8. DBMS_SQL.COLUMN_VALUE_LONG Procedure Parameters

VARIABLE_VALUE Procedure
This procedure returns the value of the named variable for a given cursor. It is also used to return the
values of bind variables inside PL/SQL blocks.
Syntax
The parameters for the VARIABLE_VALUE procedure are described in Table 10 - 9. The syntax for
this procedure is shown below.
DBMS_SQL.VARIABLE_VALUE(
c IN INTEGER,
name IN VARCHAR2,
value OUT <datatype>);
where <datatype> can be any one of the following types:
NUMBER
DATE
MLSLABEL
VARCHAR2
The following syntax is also supported for the VARIABLE_VALUE procedure:
DBMS_SQL.VARIABLE_VALUE_CHAR(
c IN INTEGER,
name IN VARCHAR2,
value OUT CHAR);

DBMS_SQL.VARIABLE_VALUE_RAW(
c IN INTEGER,
name IN VARCHAR2,
value OUT RAW);

DBMS_SQL.VARIABLE_VALUE_ROWID(
c IN INTEGER,
name IN VARCHAR2,
value OUT ROWID);
Parameter Mode Description
c IN Specify the ID number of the cursor from which to get the values.
name IN Specify the name of the variable for which you are retrieving the value.
value OUT Returns the value of the variable for the specified position.
Oracle raises exception ORA-06562, inconsistent_type, if the type of this output
parameter differs from the actual type of the value, as defined by the call to
BIND_VARIABLE.

Table 10 - 9. DBMS_SQL.VARIABLE_VALUE Procedure Parameters

Processing Updates, Inserts and Deletes

If you are using dynamic SQL to process an INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE, you must perform the
following steps:
1. You must first execute your INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement by calling
EXECUTE. The EXECUTE procedure is described .
2. If you used anonymous blocks containing calls to PL/SQL procedures, you must call
VARIABLE_VALUE to retrieve the values assigned to the output variables of these
procedures. The VARIABLE_VALUE procedure is described .
IS_OPEN Function
The IS_OPEN function returns TRUE if the given cursor is currently open.
Syntax
The IS_OPEN function accepts the ID number of a cursor, and returns TRUE if the cursor is currently
open, or FALSE if it is not. The syntax for this function is
DBMS_SQL.IS_OPEN(
c IN INTEGER)
RETURN BOOLEAN;

CLOSE_CURSOR Procedure
Call CLOSE_CURSOR to close a given cursor.
Syntax
The parameter for the CLOSE_CURSOR procedure is described in Table 10 - 10. The syntax for this
procedure is
DBMS_SQL.CLOSE_CURSOR(
c IN OUT INTEGER);
Parameter Mode Description
c IN Specify the ID number of the cursor that you want to close.
OUT The cursor is set to null. After you call CLOSE_CURSOR, the memory allocated to
the cursor is released and you can no longer fetch from that cursor.

Table 10 - 10. DBMS_SQL.CLOSE_CURSOR Procedure Parameters

Locating Errors
There are additional functions in the DBMS_SQL package for obtaining information about the last
referenced cursor in the session. The values returned by these functions are only meaningful
immediately after a SQL statement is executed. In addition, some error-locating functions are only
meaningful after certain DBMS_SQL calls. For example, you call LAST_ERROR_POSITION
immediately after a PARSE.
LAST_ERROR_POSITION Function
Returns the byte offset in the SQL statement text where the error occurred. The first character in the
SQL statement is at position 0.
DBMS_SQL.LAST_ERROR_POSITION RETURN INTEGER;
Call this function after a PARSE call, before any other DBMS_SQL procedures or
functions are called.

LAST_ROW_COUNT Function
Returns the cumulative count of the number of rows fetched.
DBMS_SQL.LAST_ROW_COUNT RETURN INTEGER;
Call this function after a FETCH_ROWS or an EXECUTE_AND_FETCH call. If
called after an EXECUTE call, the value returned will be zero.

LAST_ROW_ID Function
Returns the ROWID of the last row processed.
DBMS_SQL.LAST_ROW_ID RETURN ROWID;
Call this function after a FETCH_ROWS or an EXECUTE_AND_FETCH call.

LAST_SQL_FUNCTION_CODE Function
Returns the SQL function code for the statement. These codes are listed in the Programmer's Guide to
the Oracle Call Interface.
DBMS_SQL.LAST_SQL_FUNCTION_CODE RETURN INTEGER;
You should call this function immediately after the SQL statement is executed;
otherwise, the return value is undefined.

Examples
This section provides example procedures that make use of the DBMS_SQL package.
Example 1
The following sample procedure is passed a SQL statement, which it then parses and
executes:
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE exec(STRING IN varchar2) AS
cursor_name INTEGER;
ret INTEGER;
BEGIN
cursor_name := DBMS_SQL.OPEN_CURSOR;

--DDL statements are executed by the parse call, which

--performs the implied commit
DBMS_SQL.PARSE(cursor_name, string, DBMS_SQL.V7);
ret := DBMS_SQL.EXECUTE(cursor_name);
DBMS_SQL.CLOSE_CURSOR(cursor_name);
END;
Creating such a procedure allows you to perform the following operations:
• The SQL statement can be dynamically generated at runtime by the calling program.

• The SQL statement can be a DDL statement.

For example, after creating this procedure, you could make the following call:
exec('create table acct(c1 integer)');
You could even call this procedure remotely, as shown in the following example. This
allows you to perform remote DDL.
exec@hq.com('CREATE TABLE acct(c1 INTEGER)');
Example 2
The following sample procedure is passed the names of a source and a destination
table, and copies the rows from the source table to the destination table. This sample
procedure assumes that both the source and destination tables have the following
columns:
ID of type NUMBER
NAME of type VARCHAR2(30)
BIRTHDATE of type DATE
This procedure does not specifically require the use of dynamic SQL; however, it
illustrates the concepts of this package.
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE copy(source IN VARCHAR2,
destination IN VARCHAR2) is

-- This procedure copies rows from a given source table to a

-- given destination table assuming that both source and
-- destination tables have the following columns:
-- - ID of type NUMBER,
-- - NAME of type VARCHAR2(30),
-- - BIRTHDATE of type DATE.
id NUMBER;
name VARCHAR2(30);
birthdate DATE;
source_cursor INTEGER;
destination_cursor INTEGER;
ignore INTEGER;
BEGIN

-- prepare a cursor to select from the source table

source_cursor := dbms_sql.open_cursor;
DBMS_SQL.PARSE(source_cursor,
'SELECT id, name, birthdate FROM ' || source,
DBMS_SQL.V7);
DBMS_SQL.DEFINE_COLUMN(source_cursor, 1, id);
DBMS_SQL.DEFINE_COLUMN(source_cursor, 2, name, 30);
DBMS_SQL.DEFINE_COLUMN(source_cursor, 3, birthdate);
 ignore := DBMS_SQL.EXECUTE(source_cursor);

-- prepare a cursor to insert into the destination table

destination_cursor := DBMS_SQL.OPEN_CURSOR;
DBMS_SQL.PARSE(destination_cursor,
'INSERT INTO ' || destination ||
' VALUES (:id, :name, :birthdate)',
DBMS_SQL.V7);

-- fetch a row from the source table and

-- insert it into the destination table
LOOP
IF DBMS_SQL.FETCH_ROWS(source_cursor)>0 THEN
-- get column values of the row
DBMS_SQL.COLUMN_VALUE(source_cursor, 1, id);
DBMS_SQL.COLUMN_VALUE(source_cursor, 2, name);
DBMS_SQL.COLUMN_VALUE(source_cursor, 3, birthdate);

-- bind the row into the cursor that inserts into the
-- destination table
-- You could alter this example to require the use of
-- dynamic SQL by inserting an if condition before the
-- bind.
DBMS_SQL.BIND_VARIABLE(destination_cursor, 'id', id);
DBMS_SQL.BIND_VARIABLE(destination_cursor, 'name', name);
DBMS_SQL.BIND_VARIABLE(destination_cursor, 'birhtdate',
birthdate);
ignore := DBMS_SQL.EXECUTE(destination_cursor);
ELSE

-- no more row to copy

EXIT;
END IF;
END LOOP;

-- commit and close all cursors

COMMIT;
DBMS_SQL.CLOSE_CURSOR(source_cursor);
DBMS_SQL.CLOSE_CURSOR(destination_cursor);

EXCEPTION
WHEN OTHERS THEN
IF DBMS_SQL.IS_OPEN(source_cursor) THEN
DBMS_SQL.CLOSE_CURSOR(source_cursor);
END IF;
IF DBMS_SQL.IS_OPEN(destination_cursor) THEN
DBMS_SQL.CLOSE_CURSOR(destination_cursor);
END IF;
RAISE;
END;