Built-in SQL Functions

Chapter 5
Type of Functions
 Character Functions
 returning character values
 returning numeric values
 Numeric Functions
 Date Functions
 Conversion Functions
 Group Functions
 Error Reporting
 Other Functions
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Character Functions
Returning Character Values
 CHR
 CONCAT
 INITCAP

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Examples
 SELECT INITCAP('the soap') "Capitals" FROM DUAL;
Capitals
---------
The Soap

 SELECT CONCAT(CONCAT(last_name, '''s job category is '),

job_id) "Job" FROM employees WHERE employee_id = 152;

Job
------------------------------------------------------
Hall's job category is SA_REP

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Character Functions
Returning Character Values
 LOWER
 LPAD
 LTRIM
 NLS_INITCAP

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Examples
 SHOW LPAD('Page 1',15,'*.')
*.*.*.*.*Page 1

 SELECT NLS_INITCAP ('ijsland')

"InitCap" FROM DUAL;
InitCap
------- Ijsland

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Example
 SELECT product_name, LTRIM(product_name, 'Monitor ') "Short
Name" FROM products WHERE product_name LIKE 'Monitor%';

PRODUCT_NAME Short Name

-------------------- ---------------
Monitor 17/HR 17/HR
Monitor 17/HR/F 17/HR/F
Monitor 17/SD 17/SD
Monitor 19/SD 19/SD
Monitor 19/SD/M 19/SD/M
Monitor 21/D 21/D
Monitor 21/HR 21/HR
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Character Functions
Returning Character Values
 NLS_LOWER
 NLS_UPPER
 NLSSORT
 REPLACE
 RPAD

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Examples
 SHOW RPAD('Morrison',12,'ab')
Morrisonabab
 SELECT REPLACE('JACK and
JUE','J','BL') "Changes" FROM DUAL;
Changes
--------------
BLACK and BLUE

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Character Functions
Returning Character Values
 RTRIM
 SOUNDEX
 SUBSTR
 SUBSTRB
 TRANSLATE
 UPPER

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Examples
 SHOW RTRIM('Last Wordxxyxy','xy')
Last Word

 SELECT SUBSTR('ABCDEFG',3,4) "Substring" FROM DUAL;

Substring
---------
CDEF

 SELECT TRANSLATE('SQL*Plus User''s Guide', ' */''', '___') FROM DUAL;

TRANSLATE(' 'SQL*Plus User''s Guide
-------------------------------------------------
SQL_Plus_Users_Guide

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Character Functions
Returning Numeric Values
 ASCII
 INSTR
 INSTRB
 LENGTH
 LENGTHB

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Examples
 SHOW INSTR('Corporate Floor','or', 3, 2)
14

 SELECT LENGTH('CANDIDE') "Length in

characters" FROM DUAL;
Length in characters
--------------------
7

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Numeric Functions
 ABS
 ACOS
 ASIN
 ATAN
 ATAN2

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Numeric Functions
 CEIL
 COS
 COSH
 EXP
 FLOOR
 LN

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Examples
 SELECT order_total, CEIL(order_total) FROM orders
WHERE order_id = 2434;

ORDER_TOTAL CEIL(ORDER_TOTAL)
----------- -----------------
268651.8 268652
 SELECT FLOOR(15.7) "Floor" FROM DUAL;

Floor
----------
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Numeric Functions
 LOG
 MOD
 POWER
 ROUND
 SIGN
 SIN

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Examples
 SELECT MOD(11,4) "Modulus" FROM DUAL;
Modulus
----------
3
 SELECT ROUND(15.193,1) "Round" FROM DUAL;

Round
----------
15.2

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Numeric Functions
 SINH
 SQRT
 TAN
 TANH
 TRUNC

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Example
 SELECT TRUNC(15.79,1) "Truncate"
FROM DUAL;
Truncate
----------
15.7

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Date Functions
 ADD_MONTHS
 LAST_DAY
 MONTHS_BETWEEN
 NEW_TIME
 NEXT_DAY
 ROUND
 SYSDATE
 TRUNC
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Examples
 SELECT MONTHS_BETWEEN (TO_DATE('02-02-1995','MM-DD-
YYYY'), TO_DATE('01-01-1995','MM-DD-YYYY') ) "Months" FROM
DUAL;
Months
----------
1.03225806

 SELECT NEW_TIME(TO_DATE( '11-10-99 01:23:45', 'MM-DD-YY

HH24:MI:SS'), 'AST', 'PST') "New Date and Time" FROM DUAL;
New Date and Time
--------------------
09-NOV-1999 21:23:45

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Example
 SELECT SYSDATE, LAST_DAY(SYSDATE)
"Last", LAST_DAY(SYSDATE) - SYSDATE
"Days Left" FROM DUAL;

SYSDATE Last Days Left

--------- --------- ----------
30-MAY-01 31-MAY-01 1

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Conversion Functions
 CHARTOROWID
 CONVERT
 HEXTORAW
 RAWTOHEX
 ROWIDTOCHAR

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Conversion Functions
 TO_CHAR
 TO_DATE
 TO_LABEL
 TO_MULTI_BYTE
 TO_NUMBER
 TO_SINGLE_BYTE

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Examples

 SELECT TO_DATE( 'January 15, 1989,

11:00 A.M.', 'Month dd, YYYY, HH:MI
A.M.', 'NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE =
American') FROM DUAL;
TO_DATE('
---------
15-JAN-89

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Group Functions
 AVG
 COUNT
 GLB
 LUB

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Group Functions
 MAX
 MIN
 STDDEV
 SUM
 VARIANCE

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Error Reporting Functions
 SQLCODE
 SQLERRM

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Other Functions
 BFILENAME
 DECODE
 DUMP
 GREATEST
 GREATEST_LB
 LEAST

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Other Functions
 LEAST_LB
 NVL
 UID
 USER
 USERENV
 VSIZE

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Agenda
 Stored Procedures
 Functions
 Parameters
 Calling Stored Procedures & Functions
 Examples

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 Stored Procedures
 Named PL/SQL blocks that
 Are stored in the database
 May have formal parameters
 Can return more than one value to the calling
program
 Can be called from
 within other PL/SQL blocks as a PL/SQL statement by
itself
 SQL> prompt

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 PL/SQL Block vs. Stored Procedures

Anonymous PL/SQL Block Stored Procedure

DECLARE CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE X
[(formal_parameters)] AS[IS]
-- variable declaration -- variable declaration
BEGIN BEGIN
-- required executable -- required executable
EXCEPTION EXCEPTION
-- exception handling
-- exception handling
END;
END X;
/
/

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 Parameters
 Parameters are optional
 MUST be given a data type, but must NOT be given a
size
 Parameters have 3 modes
 IN
 Read-only within procedure/function
 Default mode (if mode is not explicitly specified)
 OUT
 Has an initial value of NULL within the procedure/function
 Ignores any values that the actual parameters have when the
procedure/function is called
 Can read from and write to
 IN OUT
 Value of actual parameters are passed into procedure/function
 Can read from and write to 35
 Stored Procedure with Parameters
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE X (
p_Parameter1 IN VARCHAR2,
p_Parameter2 IN NUMBER,
p_Parameter3 OUT VARCHAR2,
p_Parameter4 OUT NOCOPY NUMBER,
p_Parameter5 IN OUT NUMBER DEFAULT 1) AS

-- variable declaration
BEGIN
-- required executable
EXCEPTION
-- exception handling
END X;
/ 36
set serveroutput on
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE BoatReservations(p_Color IN VARCHAR2) AS

CURSOR c_Reservations IS
SELECT s.sname, r.day, r.bid
FROM Sailor s, Reserve r, Boat b
WHERE r.sid = s.sid
AND r.bid = b.bid
AND b.color = p_Color;
v_Reservation c_Reservations%ROWTYPE;
BEGIN

OPEN c_Reservations;

FETCH c_Reservations INTO v_Reservation;

WHILE c_Reservations%FOUND LOOP

DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(v_Reservation.sname||' '||v_Reservation.day||'
'||v_Reservation.bid);
FETCH c_Reservations INTO v_Reservation;
END LOOP;
CLOSE c_Reservations;
END BoatReservations;
/

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 Functions
 Named PL/SQL blocks that
 Are stored in the database
 May have formal parameters
 MUST use the keyword RETURN to return only
one value
 RETURN passes control back to the calling program
 Required for functions
 Can be called from
 within other PL/SQL blocks as part of an expression
 SQL> prompt

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 Stored Procedures vs. Functions

Stored Procedure Function

CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE X CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION X
[(parameters)] AS [(formal_parameters)] RETURN
return_type IS[AS]
-- variable declaration -- variable declaration
BEGIN BEGIN
-- required executable -- required executable

-- required RETURN statement

RETURN Z;
EXCEPTION EXCEPTION
-- exception handling -- exception handling
END X;
END X;
/
/ 39
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION NextBusinessDate1 (p_Date DATE)
RETURN DATE IS

-- Variable that will contain the day that corresponds to the date parameter
v_CurrentDay VARCHAR2(9);

-- Variable that will contain the computed date of the next business day
v_NextDate DATE;
BEGIN

/*First, determine the corresponding name of the day for the date parameter. It will be used
later
to determine the number of days by which the date should be incremented.*/
v_CurrentDay := UPPER(TRIM(TO_CHAR(p_Date, 'DAY')));

/*Based upon the name of the day and the business rule, calculate the next business date*/
IF v_CurrentDay = 'FRIDAY' THEN
v_NextDate := p_Date + 3;
ELSIF v_CurrentDay = 'SATURDAY' THEN
v_NextDate := p_Date + 2;
ELSE
v_NextDate := p_Date + 1;
END IF;

-- Now, return the computed next business date to the calling program
RETURN v_NextDate;

END NextBusinessDate1; 40
/
TRIM and TO_CHAR functions
 TRIM(string)
Removes leading and trailing blanks

 TO_CHAR(date, ‘format’)
See Table 5-4 for a list of valid formats
The date field in the reservation table has been populated, but
the weekday field is NULL.
Write a query to populate the weekday field with the name of
the day that corresponds to the date specified in the date field.
UPDATE reservation SET weekday = TRIM(TO_CHAR(date,
‘DAY’));
NOTE: The ‘DAY’ format returns the name of the day with blanks
padded on the right such that the length is 9 characters.

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 Parameters
 May be passed by value or by reference
 IN  by default, passed by reference
 OUT  by default, passed by value
 IN OUT  by default, passed by value

 Passing by reference results in faster performance

 NOCOPY
 A compiler hint to pass OUT & IN OUT parameters by
reference
 Cannot use NOCOPY with IN parameters
 Ex:
 (P_outParameter IN OUT NOCOPY VARCHAR2) IS

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 Parameters
 Formal parameters can have default values
 Formal parameters with default values must appear as the
last items in the parameter list

 When calling a stored procedure or function, the

actual arguments can be passed by positional or
named notation

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 Calling Stored Procedures &
Functions
 With Parameters
 Stored Procedure from SQL> prompt
 CALL X(v_Variable1, …., v_VariableN);
OR CALL X(p_Parameter1 => v_Variable1,…);
 EXEC X(v_Variable1,….,v_VariableN);
 Stored Procedure from within PL/SQL block
 EXECUTE IMMEDIATE ‘CALL X(……..)’; OR
X(v_Variable1,….,v_VariableN);
Function
 Used in an expression
 SELECT ElapsedDays(’01-JAN-1999’) FROM dual;
 Without Parameters
 If the stored procedure (or function) does not have parameters,
then do not use parentheses to define or call the stored procedure
(or function)

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