Syntax error in writing a procedure

Question

Dear all
I wrote a procedure in oracle 11g , but when i execute, i get an error.
i will also provide table informations in needed.
{code}
create or replace
PROCEDURE SPOKENLANGUAGE
  LANG  in char
AS
landname country_language.cname%type;
BEGIN
select L.cname  into landname from country_language L where  l.lname=LANG;
END SPOKENLANGUAGE;
{code}
then i run this command
{code}
exec spokenlanguage('English');
{code}
and i get this error :
{code}
Error starting at line 34 in command:
exec spokenlanguage('English')
Error report:
ORA-01422: exact fetch returns more than requested number of rows
ORA-06512: at "dbghi.SPOKENLANGUAGE", line 12
ORA-06512: at line 1
01422. 00000 -  "exact fetch returns more than requested number of rows"
*Cause:    The number specified in exact fetch is less than the rows returned.
*Action:   Rewrite the query or change number of rows requested
{code}
thank you in advance
best,
david

Answer 1

Depending on your actual requirement (which you haven't specified) you may be better using a ref cursor...
e.g.
SQL> ed
Wrote file afiedt.buf
  1  create or replace function get_emps(deptno in number) return sys_refcursor is
  2    v_rc sys_refcursor;
  3  begin
  4    open v_rc for 'select empno, ename from emp where deptno = :1' using get_emps.deptno;
  5    return v_rc;
  6* end;
SQL> /
Function created.
SQL> var c  refcursor;
SQL> exec :c := get_emps(10);
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL> print c;
     EMPNO ENAME
      7782 CLARK
      7839 KING
      7934 MILLER
This way, your procedure or function can supply a cursor to the code that needs to know the rows of information, and that code can then query the cursor to get the results.
Ref cursors are most useful for 3rd party application layers such as .net or java as they typically process them easily.  They're less suitable for PL/SQL code.
Explain exactly what you're planning to do with the data once you query it.