The SQL data types listed in Table 3-1 have different maximum sizes in PL/SQL and SQL.

^Footnote 1

When specifying the maximum size of a value of this data type in PL/SQL, use an integer literal (not a constant or variable) whose value is in the range from 1 through 32,767.

^Footnote 2

To eliminate this size difference, follow the instructions in Oracle Database SQL Language Reference.

^Footnote 3

Supported only for backward compatibility with existing applications.

The SQL data types BINARY_FLOAT and BINARY_DOUBLE represent single-precision and double-precision IEEE 754-format floating-point numbers, respectively.

BINARY_FLOAT and BINARY_DOUBLE computations do not raise exceptions, so you must check the values that they produce for conditions such as overflow and underflow by comparing them to predefined constants (for examples, see Oracle Database SQL Language Reference). PL/SQL has more of these constants than SQL does.

Table 3-2 lists and describes the predefined PL/SQL constants for BINARY_FLOAT and BINARY_DOUBLE, and identifies those that SQL also defines.

(*) SQL also predefines this constant.

PL/SQL predefines these subtypes:

• SIMPLE_FLOAT, a subtype of SQL data type BINARY_FLOAT

• SIMPLE_DOUBLE, a subtype of SQL data type BINARY_DOUBLE

Each subtype has the same range as its base type and has a NOT NULL constraint (explained in "NOT NULL Constraint").

If you know that a variable will never have the value NULL, declare it as SIMPLE_FLOAT or SIMPLE_DOUBLE, rather than BINARY_FLOAT or BINARY_DOUBLE. Without the overhead of checking for nullness, the subtypes provide significantly better performance than their base types. The performance improvement is greater with PLSQL_CODE_TYPE='NATIVE' than with PLSQL_CODE_TYPE='INTERPRETED' (for more information, see "Use Data Types that Use Hardware Arithmetic").

You can insert any LONG value into a LONG column. You can insert any LONG RAW value into a LONG RAW column. You cannot retrieve a value longer than 32,760 bytes from a LONG or LONG RAW column into a LONG or LONG RAW variable.

You can insert any CHAR or VARCHAR2 value into a LONG column. You cannot retrieve a value longer than 32,767 bytes from a LONG column into a CHAR or VARCHAR2 variable.

You can insert any RAW value into a LONG RAW column. You cannot retrieve a value longer than 32,767 bytes from a LONG RAW column into a RAW variable.

When you retrieve a rowid into a ROWID variable, use the ROWIDTOCHAR function to convert the binary value to a character value. For information about this function, see Oracle Database SQL Language Reference.

To convert the value of a ROWID variable to a rowid, use the CHARTOROWID function, explained in Oracle Database SQL Language Reference. If the value does not represent a valid rowid, PL/SQL raises the predefined exception SYS_INVALID_ROWID.

To retrieve a rowid into a UROWID variable, or to convert the value of a UROWID variable to a rowid, use an assignment statement; conversion is implicit.

A calculation with two PLS_INTEGER values that overflows the PLS_INTEGER range raises an overflow exception.

DECLARE
  p1 PLS_INTEGER := 2147483647;
  p2 PLS_INTEGER := 1;
  n NUMBER;
BEGIN
  n := p1 + p2;
END;
/

DECLARE
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01426: numeric overflow
ORA-06512: at line 6

DECLARE
  p1 PLS_INTEGER := 2147483647;
  p2 INTEGER := 1;
  n NUMBER;
BEGIN
  n := p1 + p2;
END;
/

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

This summary lists the predefined subtypes of the PLS_INTEGER data type and describes the data they store.

PLS_INTEGER and its subtypes can be implicitly converted to these data types:

• CHAR

• VARCHAR2

• NUMBER

• LONG

All of the preceding data types except LONG, and all PLS_INTEGER subtypes, can be implicitly converted to PLS_INTEGER.

A PLS_INTEGER value can be implicitly converted to a PLS_INTEGER subtype only if the value does not violate a constraint of the subtype.

DECLARE
  a SIMPLE_INTEGER := 1;
  b PLS_INTEGER := NULL;
BEGIN
  a := b;
END;
/

DECLARE
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-06502: PL/SQL: numeric or value error
ORA-06512: at line 5

SIMPLE_INTEGER is a predefined subtype of the PLS_INTEGER data type.

SIMPLE_INTEGER has the same range as PLS_INTEGER and has a NOT NULL constraint. It differs significantly from PLS_INTEGER in its overflow semantics.

If you know that a variable will never have the value NULL or need overflow checking, declare it as SIMPLE_INTEGER rather than PLS_INTEGER. Without the overhead of checking for nullness and overflow, SIMPLE_INTEGER performs significantly better than PLS_INTEGER.

An unconstrained subtype has the same set of values as its base type, so it is only another name for the base type.

Therefore, unconstrained subtypes of the same base type are interchangeable with each other and with the base type. No data type conversion occurs.

To define an unconstrained subtype, use this syntax:

SUBTYPE subtype_name IS base_type

For information about subtype_name and base_type, see subtype.

An example of an unconstrained subtype, which PL/SQL predefines for compatibility with ANSI, is:

SUBTYPE "DOUBLE PRECISION" IS FLOAT

DECLARE
  SUBTYPE Balance IS NUMBER;

  checking_account        Balance(6,2);
  savings_account         Balance(8,2);
  certificate_of_deposit  Balance(8,2);
  max_insured  CONSTANT   Balance(8,2) := 250000.00;

  SUBTYPE Counter IS NATURAL;

  accounts     Counter := 1;
  deposits     Counter := 0;
  withdrawals  Counter := 0;
  overdrafts   Counter := 0;

  PROCEDURE deposit (
    account  IN OUT Balance,
    amount   IN     Balance
  ) IS
  BEGIN
    account  := account + amount;
    deposits := deposits + 1;
  END;
  
BEGIN
  NULL;
END;
/

A constrained subtype has only a subset of the values of its base type.

If the base type lets you specify size, precision and scale, or a range of values, then you can specify them for its subtypes. The subtype definition syntax is:

SUBTYPE subtype_name IS base_type
  { precision [, scale ] | RANGE low_value .. high_value } [ NOT NULL ]

Otherwise, the only constraint that you can put on its subtypes is NOT NULL:

SUBTYPE subtype_name IS base_type [ NOT NULL ]

A constrained subtype can be implicitly converted to its base type, but the base type can be implicitly converted to the constrained subtype only if the value does not violate a constraint of the subtype.

A constrained subtype can be implicitly converted to another constrained subtype with the same base type only if the source value does not violate a constraint of the target subtype.

DECLARE
  SUBTYPE Balance IS NUMBER(8,2);
 
  checking_account  Balance;
  savings_account   Balance;
 
BEGIN
  checking_account := 2000.00;
  savings_account  := 1000000.00;
END;
/

DECLARE
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-06502: PL/SQL: numeric or value error: number precision too large
ORA-06512: at line 9

DECLARE
  SUBTYPE Digit        IS PLS_INTEGER RANGE 0..9;
  SUBTYPE Double_digit IS PLS_INTEGER RANGE 10..99;
  SUBTYPE Under_100    IS PLS_INTEGER RANGE 0..99;
 
  d   Digit        :=  4;
  dd  Double_digit := 35;
  u   Under_100;
BEGIN
  u := d;   -- Succeeds; Under_100 range includes Digit range
  u := dd;  -- Succeeds; Under_100 range includes Double_digit range
  dd := d;  -- Raises error; Double_digit range does not include Digit range
END;
/

DECLARE
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-06502: PL/SQL: numeric or value error
ORA-06512: at line 12

If two subtypes have different base types in the same data type family, then one subtype can be implicitly converted to the other only if the source value does not violate a constraint of the target subtype.

For the predefined PL/SQL data types and subtypes, grouped by data type family, see PL/SQL Predefined Data Types.

DECLARE
  SUBTYPE Word IS CHAR(6);
  SUBTYPE Text IS VARCHAR2(15);
 
  verb       Word := 'run';
  sentence1  Text;
  sentence2  Text := 'Hurry!';
  sentence3  Text := 'See Tom run.';
 
BEGIN
  sentence1 := verb;  -- 3-character value, 15-character limit
  verb := sentence2;  -- 6-character value, 6-character limit
  verb := sentence3;  -- 12-character value, 6-character limit
END;
/

DECLARE
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-06502: PL/SQL: numeric or value error: character string buffer too small
ORA-06512: at line 13