Bug Report: PLSQL variable names

Question

Hello,
I am using Oracle 10g Release 2 and have come across an issue that I think maybe a bug.
I don't seem to be able to declare a PL/SQL variable using the %TYPE attribute where the variable name is the same as the table name.
For example:
CREATE TABLE week_day
( week_day_id NUMBER NOT NULL
, week_day VARCHAR2(3) NOT NULL );
DECLARE
week_day week_day.week_day_id%TYPE;
BEGIN
NULL;
END;
Executing this block of PL/SQL gives the following error:
ERROR at line 2:
ORA-06550: line 2, column 12:
PLS-00320: the declaration of the type of this expression is incomplete or malformed
ORA-06550: line 2, column 12:
PL/SQL: Item ignored
Normally I would prefix my variables in PL/SQL with l_ (or whatever depending on scope), but I discovered this "feature" when declaring a field in a PLSQL record.
Is this a known restriction? I looked in the PL/SQL User Guide & Reference and could not find any reference to this restriction.
Kind Regards
Andy

Answer 1

You shouldn't call variables the same as table names.Just to plus one BluShadow...
SQL> CREATE TABLE week_day
  2  ( week_day_id NUMBER NOT NULL
  3  , week_day VARCHAR2(3) NOT NULL );
Table created.
SQL> DECLARE
  2  week_day week_day.week_day_id%TYPE;
  3  BEGIN
  4  NULL;
  5  END;
  6  /
week_day week_day.week_day_id%TYPE;
ERROR at line 2:
ORA-06550: line 2, column 10:
PLS-00320: the declaration of the type of this expression is incomplete or
malformed
ORA-06550: line 2, column 10:
PL/SQL: Item ignored
SQL> drop  TABLE week_day;
Table dropped.
SQL> CREATE TABLE week_day
  2  ( w_day_id NUMBER NOT NULL
  3  , w_day VARCHAR2(3) NOT NULL );
Table created.
SQL> DECLARE
  2  week_day week_day.w_day_id%TYPE;
  3  BEGIN
  4  NULL;
  5  END;
  6  /
week_day week_day.w_day_id%TYPE;
ERROR at line 2:
ORA-06550: line 2, column 10:
PLS-00320: the declaration of the type of this expression is incomplete or
malformed
ORA-06550: line 2, column 10:
PL/SQL: Item ignored
SQL> drop  TABLE week_day;
Table dropped.
SQL> CREATE TABLE week_days
  2  ( week_day_id NUMBER NOT NULL
  3  , week_day VARCHAR2(3) NOT NULL );
Table created.
SQL> DECLARE
  2  week_day week_days.week_day_id%TYPE;
  3  BEGIN
  4  NULL;
  5  END;
  6  /
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL> Cheers, APC
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