10/17/22, 4:24 PM Handling Other Unhandled Exceptions By Examples

Handling Other Unhandled Exceptions

Summary: in this tutorial, you will learn how to handle other unhandled exceptions in the WHEN
OTHER clause using SQLCODE and SQLERRM functions.

In this exception (https://www.oracletutorial.com/plsql-tutorial/plsql-exception/) handling section, you can

include the WHEN OTHERS clause to catch any otherwise unhandled exceptions:

EXCEPTION

...

WHEN OTHERS

-- catch other exceptions

Because you handle other non-specific exceptions in the WHEN OTHERS clause, you will need to
take advantages of the built-in error functions such as SQLCODE and SQLERRM .

Note that you cannot use SQLCODE or SQLERRM function directly in an SQL statement.
Instead, you must first assign their returned values to variables
(https://www.oracletutorial.com/plsql-tutorial/plsql-variables/) , and then use the variables in the SQL
statement.

 SQLCODE function

The SQLCODE function accepts no argument and returns a number code of the most recent
exception.

If the exceptions are internal, SQLCODE returns a negative number except for the NO_DATA_FOUND
exception which has the number code +100.

If the exception is user-defined, SQLCODE returns +1 or the number that you associated with the
exception via the pragma EXCEPTION_INIT .

The SQLCODE is only usable in the exception-handling section. If you use the SQLCODE function
outside an exception handler, it always returns zero.
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10/17/22, 4:24 PM Handling Other Unhandled Exceptions By Examples

This example illustrates how to use the SQLCODE function:

DECLARE

l_code NUMBER;

r_customer customers%rowtype;

BEGIN

SELECT * INTO r_customer FROM customers;

EXCEPTION

WHEN OTHERS THEN

l_code := SQLCODE;

dbms_output.put_line('Error code:' || l_code);

END;

In this example, we try to fetch too many rows into a record, which results in a error with the
following error code:

Error code:-1422

 SQLERRM function

The function SQLERRM takes an argument as an error number and returns the error message
associated with that error number:

SQLERRM([error_number])

In this syntax, the error_number can be any valid Oracle error number.

If you omit the error_number argument, the function will return the error message associated with
the current value of SQLCODE .

Note that the SQLERRM function with no argument is only useful in an exception handler.

This example illustrates how to use the function SQLERRM in an exception handler:

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DECLARE

l_msg VARCHAR2(255);

r_customer customers%rowtype;

BEGIN

SELECT * INTO r_customer FROM customers;

EXCEPTION

WHEN OTHERS THEN

l_msg := SQLERRM;

dbms_output.put_line(l_msg);

END;

Here is the output:

ORA-01422: exact fetch returns more than requested number of rows

Using SQLCODE and SQLERRM functions example

The following example inserts (https://www.oracletutorial.com/oracle-basics/oracle-insert/) a new contact into

the contacts table in the sample database. It has an exception handler in the WHERE OTHERS  
clause of  the exception handling section.

DECLARE

l_first_name contacts.first_name%TYPE := 'Flor';

l_last_name contacts.last_name%TYPE := 'Stone';

l_email contacts.email%TYPE := 'flor.stone@raytheon.com';

l_phone contacts.phone%TYPE := '+1 317 123 4105';

l_customer_id contacts.customer_id%TYPE := -1;

BEGIN

-- insert a new contact

INSERT INTO contacts(first_name, last_name, email, phone, customer_id)

VALUES(l_first_name, l_last_name, l_email, l_phone, l_customer_id);

EXCEPTION

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10/17/22, 4:24 PM Handling Other Unhandled Exceptions By Examples

WHEN OTHERS THEN

DECLARE

l_error PLS_INTEGER := SQLCODE;

l_msg VARCHAR2(255) := sqlerrm;

BEGIN

CASE l_error

WHEN -1 THEN

-- duplicate email

dbms_output.put_line('duplicate email found ' || l_email);

dbms_output.put_line(l_msg);

WHEN -2291 THEN

-- parent key not found

dbms_output.put_line('Invalid customer id ' || l_customer_

dbms_output.put_line(l_msg);

END CASE;

-- reraise the current exception

RAISE;

END;

END;

In this example, the exception handler traps two exceptions -1 (duplicate email ) and -2291 (parent
key not found). It shows a custom message and reraises the exception using the RAISE statement.

In this tutorial, you have learned how to handle other unhandled exceptions in the WHEN OTHER
clause using the SQLCODE and SQLERRM functions.

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