End Loop when value is not in Table

Question

My tables:
Possible_Ids
2222
1111
3333
4444
Used_Ids
5555
6666
2222
7777
Code so far:
declare
type array_type is table of Possible_ids%rowtype;
id_array array_type;
v_id char(4);
v_counter number:=1;
v_found number:=0;
begin
select * bulk collect into id_array from Possible_ids;
loop
if id_array(v_counter).co1 IN Used_ids table* then <--- I need help here,
v_counter:= v_counter+1;
else
v_found:= 1;
v_id:= id_array(v_counter).co1
end if;
exit when v_found = 1;
end loop;
dbms_output.put_line(v_id);
end;
Help: I need to somehow write a statement to instruct the code to "stop" when a value is NOT found in a table. From my tables, the first valid Possible_id would be '1111' since '2222' is already used.
Edited by: Ludovick on Nov 2, 2010 10:25 AM
Edited by: Ludovick on Nov 2, 2010 10:28 AM
Edited by: Ludovick on Nov 2, 2010 10:29 AM

Answer 1

Why so complicated. If you simply want to retrieve the lowest possible id that is not used you could do it like this.
(I assume, your id column in both tables is named ID):
declare
  v_id number;
begin
  select min(id)
  into v_id
  from possible_ids
  where ID not in (select ID from used_ids);
  dbms_output.put_line('found id='||v_id);
exception
  when no_data_found then
    dbms_output.put_line('no data found'); -- or whatever you want.
end;If you don't need pl/sql you can do it with sql:
  select min(id)
  from possible_ids
  where ID not in (select ID from used_ids);