WHILE statement (PL/SQL)
The WHILE statement repeats a set of SQL statements as long as a specified expression is true. The condition is evaluated immediately before each entry into the loop body.
Invocation
This statement can be embedded within a PL/SQL procedure, function, or anonymous block statement.
Authorization
No privileges are required to invoke the WHILE statement; however, the authorization ID of the statement must hold the necessary privileges to invoke the SQL statements that are embedded in the WHILE statement.
Syntax
Description
- expression
- Specifies an expression that is evaluated immediately before each entry into the loop body to determine whether or not the loop is to be executed. If the expression is logically true, the loop is executed. If the expression is logically false, loop processing ends. An EXIT statement can be used to terminate the loop while the expression is true.
- statements
- Specifies the PL/SQL and SQL statements that are executed each time that the loop is processed.
Example
The following example shows a basic
WHILE statement within an anonymous block:
DECLARE
sum INTEGER := 0;
BEGIN
WHILE sum < 11 LOOP
sum := sum + 1;
END LOOP;
END