"Select sum(field)" not summing

Question

I have a PLSQL statement like:
select sum(field1) sum1,
sum (field2) sum2
into v_sum1,
v_sum2
where something = somethingElse;
How come my variable are being assigne a single row's (the first) field1 and field2 values rather than the actual sums?
If I do a SQLPLUS version of this (without the "into" part), I get the correct sums returned in a single row.
Thanks,

Answer 1

I just tried your query and it should work if you only want a sum for a specific where clause. For example one employee's salary given the employee's id. If you want a list of salaries for every employee in a specific department, you need to put this into a cursor and loop through it.
This will look at all the rows based on the where statement and sum them all up. The reason it works in SQL*PLUS is that an implicit cursor is used (loops through automatically).
ex:
DECLARE
CURSOR C_SUM is
select ename,
sum(sal) sum1,
sum(comm)sum2
from emp
where deptno = 30;
BEGIN
FOR R_SUM IN C_SUM
LOOP
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(r_sum.ename ||' '||
r_sum.sum1 ||' '||
r_sum.sum2);
END LOOP;
END;
Make sure if you use DBMS_OUTPUT you have serveroutput on. Hope this helps. If it doesnt, post the actual code you are having problems with.