Simple - plsql query

Question

I am new to plsql and want to do following in plsql code:
code start select max(col1) from table1;
-- and save the max value in variable VAR1
select COL1, case COL2 when VAR1 THEN 'VALUE ONE'
ELSE 'VALUE ELSE'
END
from table1
-- I want to see the o/p of second select on the screen
code ends how can i write the above plsql code.

Answer 1

No, its not working... see the below..
create table test5 as select owner, object_name, subobject_name, object_type from all_objects;
create unique index test5_i5 on test5 (owner, object_name, subobject_name, object_type);
select * from test5 where owner like 'SCOTT' AND OBJECT_NAME LIKE 'EMP';
INDEX RANGE SCAN| TEST5_I5 | 4 | 248 | 1 (0)| 00:00:01 |
but when i use
select * from test5 where UPPER(OWNER) LIKE 'SCOTT%' AND UPPER(OBJECT_NAME) LIKE 'EMP%';
TABLE ACCESS FULL| TEST5 | 3 | 186 | 65 (5)| 00:00:01 |
i know it goes to full scan, i want to know is there any other way to make index used .. without using functional based indx...
the reason is user can search any one of the column data and data is mixed case in table columns and/or conditions specified in query..
.. any help...
not sure how to use 'NLS_SORT=BINARY_CI' on multicolumn index and enable index used in search operation.. ANY OTHER WAY OF DOING THIS...
requirements is
mixed (lower,upper) data stored in db columns and mixed case data searched, 5 columns specified in where condition, data may be provided in search conditon to one or two or to all 5 columns in mixed case... matching records need to be returned.. suggest a good way of doing this... thnx