How to return a set of vlaues.

Question

Hello All,
I need to return a set of vlaues from a table.The values will be used by other application.
For example I need all the department names to be retuned . How can we do this. can we return more than one value in a function.
Please let me know the syntax for this.
Kind Regards,
Kumar.

Answer 1

I will show you two ways.
1. Using a Table type.
SQL> create or replace type my_dname_type as table of varchar2(14)
  2  /
Type created.
SQL> create or replace function my_dname_fn return my_dname_type
  2  as
  3     ldname my_dname_type;
  4  begin
  5     select dname bulk collect into ldname from hx_dept;
  6     return ldname;
  7  end;
  8  /
Function created.
SQL> select * from table(my_dname_fn())
  2  /
COLUMN_VALUE
ACCOUNTING
RESEARCH
SALES
OPERATIONS2. using a ref cursor
SQL> drop type my_dname_type
  2  /
Type dropped.
SQL> drop function my_dname_fn
  2  /
Function dropped.
SQL> create or replace function my_dname_fn return sys_refcursor
  2  as
  3     ldname sys_refcursor;
  4  begin
  5     open ldname for 'select dname from hx_dept';
  6     return ldname;
  7  end;
  8  /
Function created.
SQL> var ldname refcursor
SQL> exec :ldname := my_dname_fn;
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL> print :ldname
DNAME
ACCOUNTING
RESEARCH
SALES
OPERATIONSto know more about this read oracle document.
Thanks,
Karthick.