PL/SQL - column value is updated as 0 instead of numeric value

Question

Declare
v_cnt varchar2(20);
v_cnd varchar2(20);
v_total varchar2(20);
begin
select count(emp_id) into v_cnt from emp1;
select count(emp_id) into v_cnd from emp2;
v_total:=v_cnt+v_cnd;
dbms_output.put_line('before');
dbms_output.put_line(v_total);
update emp3 set total_emp=v_total where dept_no=40;
commit;
dbms_output.put_line('after');
dbms_output.put_line(v_total);
end;
In the above program, value for the column total_emp is getting updated as 0 instead of numeric value. However, when I use dbms_output statement to print the value, for both the cases, before and after , I'm getting the numeric value for the variable v_total.
v_total value is not getting updated to column value in table.
table column definition for total_emp is varchar2(20).
Also, I tried to hard code value for total_emp column in the above statement and it worked.
So, the problem is variable value when used in the update statement it's not getting updated to column.
Please help me.

Answer 1

Post a reproducable test case for us...
SQL> create table emp1 as select * from emp;
Table created.
SQL> create table emp2 as select * from emp;
Table created.
SQL> create table emp3 as select * from emp;
Table created.
SQL> alter table emp3 add (total_emp varchar2(20));
Table altered.
SQL> ed
Wrote file afiedt.buf
  1  Declare
  2    v_cnt varchar2(20);
  3    v_cnd varchar2(20);
  4    v_total varchar2(20);
  5  begin
  6    select count(empno) into v_cnt from emp1;
  7    select count(empno) into v_cnd from emp2;
  8    v_total:=v_cnt+v_cnd;
  9    dbms_output.put_line('before');
10    dbms_output.put_line(v_total);
11    update emp3 set total_emp=v_total where deptno=10;
12    commit;
13    dbms_output.put_line('after');
14    dbms_output.put_line(v_total);
15* end;
SQL> /
before
28
after
28
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL> select * from emp3;
     EMPNO ENAME      JOB              MGR HIREDATE                    SAL       COMM     DEPTNO TOTAL_EMP
      7369 SMITH      CLERK           7902 17-DEC-1980 00:00:00        800                    20
      7499 ALLEN      SALESMAN        7698 20-FEB-1981 00:00:00       1600        300         30
      7521 WARD       SALESMAN        7698 22-FEB-1981 00:00:00       1250        500         30
      7566 JONES      MANAGER         7839 02-APR-1981 00:00:00       2975                    20
      7654 MARTIN     SALESMAN        7698 28-SEP-1981 00:00:00       1250       1400         30
      7698 BLAKE      MANAGER         7839 01-MAY-1981 00:00:00       2850                    30
      7782 CLARK      MANAGER         7839 09-JUN-1981 00:00:00       2450                    10 28
      7788 SCOTT      ANALYST         7566 19-APR-1987 00:00:00       3000                    20
      7839 KING       PRESIDENT            17-NOV-1981 00:00:00       5000                    10 28
      7844 TURNER     SALESMAN        7698 08-SEP-1981 00:00:00       1500          0         30
      7876 ADAMS      CLERK           7788 23-MAY-1987 00:00:00       1100                    20
      7900 JAMES      CLERK           7698 03-DEC-1981 00:00:00        950                    30
      7902 FORD       ANALYST         7566 03-DEC-1981 00:00:00       3000                    20
      7934 MILLER     CLERK           7782 23-JAN-1982 00:00:00       1300                    10 28
14 rows selected.Works for me.. even with the incorrect datatypes.
You demonstrate exactly what you are doing.