Error while creating Global temp table

Question

Hi,
I am very new to PL/SQL so please excuse my question. I have the below query . I have to get a count between the source table and various target tables. I am creating a global temp table to store the counts. I am getting the below error for my following query :
Thanks for the help,
Petronas
----Query----
set serveroutput on
Declare
nm1 varchar2(200);
nm2 varchar2(200);
cnt1 number;
cnt2 number;
diff number;
totdiff number;
Begin
nm1 := null;
nm2:= null;
cnt1:= 0;
cnt2 := 0;
diff := 0;
totdiff := 0;
create GLOBAL TEMPORARY TABLE diff ( name1 varchar(200), name2 varchar2(200), diff number);
select count(*) into cnt1
from users_staging;
select count(*) into cnt2
from PROD.users;
nm1 := 'users_staging';
nm2 := 'PROD.users';
diff := cnt1 - cnt2;
insert into diff values (nm1,nm2,diff);
select count(*) into totdiff
from diff
where diff> 0 ;
dbms_output.enable(10000);
dbms_output.put_line('# of tables where difference is > 0 ' ||totdiff);
end;
Encountered the symbol "CREATE" when expecting one of the following:
begin case declare end exception exit for goto if loop mod
null pragma raise return select update while with
<an identifier> <a double-quoted delimited-identifier>
<a bind variable> << close current delete fetch lock insert
open rollback savepoint set sql execute commit forall merge
pipe

Answer 1

Hi,
"CREATE GLOBAL TEPORARY TABLE ..." is not a PL/SQL command; it is a SQL command only.
Create the table, using that statement, before running the PL/SQL block.
You can issue SQL statements from within PL/SQL using the EXECUTE IMMEDIATE command, but this is rarely a good idea.
I assume the PL/SQL code is meant to create the table and then populate it.
You should split those into two separate pieces of code. You'll only want to create the table once, no matter how many times you use it. I assume you'll want to populate it the same way many times. Remember, the "TEMPORARY" in "GLOBAL TEMPORARY TABLE" refers to the data, not the table. When you end a transaction (or a session, depending on whther you want "ON COMMIT DELETE ROWS" or "ON COMMIT PRESERVE ROWS"), the data disappears, but the now-empty stays, ready to be populated for the next transaction (or session).
Edited by: Frank Kulash on Aug 4, 2010 2:25 PM