Assignment Statement

The assignment statement sets the value of a data item to a valid value.

Topics

• Syntax

• Semantics

• Examples

• Related Topics

Syntax

assignment_statement ::=

See "expression ::=".

assignment_statement_target ::=

placeholder ::=

Semantics

assignment_statement_target

Data item to which the value of expression is to be assigned.

collection_variable

Name of a collection variable.

index

Index of an element of collection_variable. Without index, the entire collection variable is the assignment statement target.

index must be a numeric expression whose data type either is PLS_INTEGER or can be implicitly converted to PLS_INTEGER (for information about the latter, see "Predefined PLS_INTEGER Subtypes").

cursor_variable

Name of a cursor variable.

:host_cursor_variable

Name of a cursor variable declared in a PL/SQL host environment and passed to PL/SQL as a bind argument. Do not put space between the colon (:) and host_cursor_variable.

The data type of a host cursor variable is compatible with the return type of any PL/SQL cursor variable.

object

Name of an instance of an abstract data type (ADT).

attribute

Name of an attribute of object. Without attribute, the entire ADT is the assignment statement target.

out_parameter

Name of a formal OUT or IN OUT parameter of the subprogram in which the assignment statement appears.

record_variable

Name of a record variable.

field

Name of a field of record_variable. Without field, the entire record variable is the assignment statement target.

scalar_variable

Name of a PL/SQL scalar variable.

placeholder

:host_variable

Name of a variable declared in a PL/SQL host environment and passed to PL/SQL as a bind argument. Do not put space between the colon (:) and host_variable.

:indicator_variable

Name of an indicator variable declared in a PL/SQL host environment and passed to PL/SQL as a bind argument. (An indicator variable indicates the value or condition of its associated host variable. For example, in the Oracle Precompiler environment, an indicator variable can a detect null or truncated value in an output host variable.) Do not put space between host_variable and the colon (:) or between the colon and indicator_variable. This is correct:

:host_variable:indicator_variable

expression

Expression whose value is to be assigned to assignment_statement_target.

expression and assignment_statement_target must have compatible data types.

Examples

• Example 2-24, "Assigning Values to Variables with Assignment Statement"

• Example 2-27, "Assigning Value to BOOLEAN Variable"

• Example 5-8, "Data Type Compatibility for Collection Assignment"

Related Topics

In this chapter:

• "Expression"

• "FETCH Statement"

• "SELECT INTO Statement"

In other chapters:

• "Assigning Values to Variables"

• "Assigning Values to Collection Variables"

• "Assigning Values to Record Variables"