Assigning Values to Collection Variables

You can assign a value to a collection variable in these ways:

Invoke a constructor to create a collection and assign it to the collection variable.
Use the assignment statement to assign it the value of another existing collection variable.
Pass it to a subprogram as an OUT or IN OUT parameter, and then assign the value inside the subprogram.
Use a qualified expression to assign values to an associative array (see Example 6-11).

To assign a value to a scalar element of a collection variable, reference the element as collection_variable_name(index) and assign it a value.

Topics

Data Type Compatibility

You can assign a collection to a collection variable only if they have the same data type. Having the same element type is not enough.

Example 6-14 Data Type Compatibility for Collection Assignment

In this example, VARRAY types triplet and trio have the same element type, VARCHAR(15). Collection variables group1 and group2 have the same data type, triplet, but collection variable group3 has the data type trio. The assignment of group1 to group2 succeeds, but the assignment of group1 to group3 fails.

Live SQL:

You can view and run this example on Oracle Live SQL at Data Type Compatibility for Collection Assignment

DECLARE
  TYPE triplet IS VARRAY(3) OF VARCHAR2(15);
  TYPE trio    IS VARRAY(3) OF VARCHAR2(15);
 
  group1 triplet := triplet('Jones', 'Wong', 'Marceau');
  group2 triplet;
  group3 trio;
BEGIN
  group2 := group1;  -- succeeds
  group3 := group1;  -- fails
END;
/

Result:

ORA-06550: line 10, column 13:
PLS-00382: expression is of wrong type

Assigning Null Values to Varray or Nested Table Variables

To a varray or nested table variable, you can assign the value NULL or a null collection of the same data type. Either assignment makes the variable null.

Example 6-15 initializes the nested table variable dept_names to a non-null value; assigns a null collection to it, making it null; and re-initializes it to a different non-null value.

Example 6-15 Assigning Null Value to Nested Table Variable

Live SQL:

You can view and run this example on Oracle Live SQL at Assigning Null Value to Nested Table Variable

DECLARE
  TYPE dnames_tab IS TABLE OF VARCHAR2(30);
 
  dept_names dnames_tab := dnames_tab(
    'Shipping','Sales','Finance','Payroll');  -- Initialized to non-null value
 
  empty_set dnames_tab;  -- Not initialized, therefore null
 
  PROCEDURE print_dept_names_status IS
  BEGIN
    IF dept_names IS NULL THEN
      DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('dept_names is null.');
    ELSE
      DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('dept_names is not null.');
    END IF;
  END  print_dept_names_status;
 
BEGIN
  print_dept_names_status;
  dept_names := empty_set;  -- Assign null collection to dept_names.
  print_dept_names_status;
  dept_names := dnames_tab (
    'Shipping','Sales','Finance','Payroll');  -- Re-initialize dept_names
  print_dept_names_status;
END;
/

Result:

dept_names is not null.
dept_names is null.
dept_names is not null.

Assigning Set Operation Results to Nested Table Variables

To a nested table variable, you can assign the result of a SQL MULTISET operation or SQL SET function invocation.

The SQL MULTISET operators combine two nested tables into a single nested table. The elements of the two nested tables must have comparable data types. For information about the MULTISET operators, see Oracle Database SQL Language Reference.

The SQL SET function takes a nested table argument and returns a nested table of the same data type whose elements are distinct (the function eliminates duplicate elements). For information about the SET function, see Oracle Database SQL Language Reference.

Example 6-16 Assigning Set Operation Results to Nested Table Variable

This example assigns the results of several MULTISET operations and one SET function invocation of the nested table variable answer, using the procedure print_nested_table to print answer after each assignment. The procedure uses the collection methods FIRST and LAST, described in "Collection Methods".

Live SQL:

You can view and run this example on Oracle Live SQL at Assigning Set Operation Results to Nested Table Variable

DECLARE
  TYPE nested_typ IS TABLE OF NUMBER;
 
  nt1    nested_typ := nested_typ(1,2,3);
  nt2    nested_typ := nested_typ(3,2,1);
  nt3    nested_typ := nested_typ(2,3,1,3);
  nt4    nested_typ := nested_typ(1,2,4);
  answer nested_typ;
 
  PROCEDURE print_nested_table (nt nested_typ) IS
    output VARCHAR2(128);
  BEGIN
    IF nt IS NULL THEN
      DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Result: null set');
    ELSIF nt.COUNT = 0 THEN
      DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Result: empty set');
    ELSE
      FOR i IN nt.FIRST .. nt.LAST LOOP  -- For first to last element
        output := output || nt(i) || ' ';
      END LOOP;
      DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Result: ' || output);
    END IF;
  END print_nested_table;
 
BEGIN
  answer := nt1 MULTISET UNION nt4;
  print_nested_table(answer);
  answer := nt1 MULTISET UNION nt3;
  print_nested_table(answer);
  answer := nt1 MULTISET UNION DISTINCT nt3;
  print_nested_table(answer);
  answer := nt2 MULTISET INTERSECT nt3;
  print_nested_table(answer);
  answer := nt2 MULTISET INTERSECT DISTINCT nt3;
  print_nested_table(answer);
  answer := SET(nt3);
  print_nested_table(answer);
  answer := nt3 MULTISET EXCEPT nt2;
  print_nested_table(answer);
  answer := nt3 MULTISET EXCEPT DISTINCT nt2;
  print_nested_table(answer);
END;
/

Result:

Result: 1 2 3 1 2 4
Result: 1 2 3 2 3 1 3
Result: 1 2 3
Result: 3 2 1
Result: 3 2 1
Result: 2 3 1
Result: 3
Result: empty set