What should be the return type for a cursor variable. Can we use a scalar data type as return type?
The return type for a cursor must be a record type.It can be declared explicitly as a user-defined or %ROWTYPE can be used. eg TYPE t_studentsref IS REF CURSOR RETURN students%ROWTYPE

What are different Oracle database objects?
-TABLES
-VIEWS
-INDEXES
-SYNONYMS
-SEQUENCES
-TABLESPACES etc

What is difference between SUBSTR and INSTR?
SUBSTR returns a specified portion of a string eg SUBSTR('BCDEF',4) output BCDE INSTR provides character position in which a pattern is found in a string. eg INSTR('ABC-DC-F','-',2) output 7 (2nd occurence of '-')

Display the number value in Words?
SQL> select sal, (to_char(to_date(sal,'j'), 'jsp'))
from emp;
the output like,
SAL (TO_CHAR(TO_DATE(SAL,'J'),'JSP'))
--------- ----------------------------------------
800 eight hundred
1600 one thousand six hundred
1250 one thousand two hundred fifty
If you want to add some text like, Rs. Three Thousand only.
SQL> select sal "Salary ",
(' Rs. '|| (to_char(to_date(sal,'j'), 'Jsp'))|| ' only.'))
"Sal in Words" from emp
/
Salary Sal in Words
------- -----------------------------------------------
800 Rs. Eight Hundred only.
1600 Rs. One Thousand Six Hundred only.
1250 Rs. One Thousand Two Hundred Fifty only.

What is difference between SQL and SQL*PLUS?
SQL*PLUS is a command line tool where as SQL and PL/SQL language interface and reporting tool. Its a command line tool that allows user to type SQL commands to be executed directly against an Oracle database. SQL is a language used to query the relational database(DML,DCL,DDL). SQL*PLUS commands are used to format query result, Set options, Edit SQL commands and PL/SQL.

What are various joins used while writing SUBQUERIES?
Self join-Its a join foreign key of a table references the same table. Outer Join--Its a join condition used where One can query all the rows of one of the tables in the join condition even though they don't satisfy the join condition.
Equi-join--Its a join condition that retrieves rows from one or more tables in which one or more columns in one table are equal to one or more columns in the second table.

What a SELECT FOR UPDATE cursor represent.?
SELECT......FROM......FOR......UPDATE[OF column-reference][NOWAIT]
The processing done in a fetch loop modifies the rows that have been retrieved by the cursor. A convenient way of modifying the rows is done by a method with two parts: the FOR UPDATE clause in the cursor declaration, WHERE CURRENT OF CLAUSE in an UPDATE or declaration statement.

What are various privileges that a user can grant to another user?
-SELECT
-CONNECT
-RESOURCES

Display the records between two range?
select rownum, empno, ename from emp where rowid in (select rowid from emp where rownum <=&upto minus select rowid from emp where rownum<&Start);

minvalue.sql Select the Nth lowest value from a table?
select level, min('col_name') from my_table where level = '&n' connect by prior ('col_name') < 'col_name')
group by level;
Example:
Given a table called emp with the following columns:
-- id number
-- name varchar2(20)
-- sal number
--
-- For the second lowest salary:
-- select level, min(sal) from emp
-- where level=2
-- connect by prior sal < sal
-- group by level

What is difference between Rename and Alias?
Rename is a permanent name given to a table or column whereas Alias is a temporary name given to a table or column which do not exist once the SQL statement is executed.

Difference between an implicit & an explicit cursor.?
only one row. However,queries that return more than one row you must declare an explicit cursor or use a cursor FOR loop. Explicit cursor is a cursor in which the cursor name is explicitly assigned to a SELECT statement via the CURSOR...IS statement. An implicit cursor is used for all SQL statements Declare, Open, Fetch, Close. An explicit cursors are used to process multirow SELECT statements An implicit cursor is used to process INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE and single row SELECT. .INTO statements.

What is a OUTER JOIN?
Outer Join--Its a join condition used where you can query all the rows of one of the tables in the join condition even though they don’t satisfy the join condition.

What is a cursor?
Oracle uses work area to execute SQL statements and store processing information PL/SQL construct called a cursor lets you name a work area and access its stored information A cursor is a mechanism used to fetch more than one row in a Pl/SQl block.

What is the purpose of a cluster?
Oracle does not allow a user to specifically locate tables, since that is a part of the function of the RDBMS. However, for the purpose of increasing performance, oracle allows a developer to create a CLUSTER. A CLUSTER provides a means for storing data from different tables together for faster retrieval than if the table placement were left to the RDBMS.

What is OCI. What are its uses?
Oracle Call Interface is a method of accesing database from a 3GL program. Uses--No precompiler is required,PL/SQL blocks are executed like other DML statements.
The OCI library provides
--functions to parse SQL statemets
--bind input variables
--bind output variables
--execute statements
--fetch the results

How you open and close a cursor variable. Why it is required?
OPEN cursor variable FOR SELECT...Statement
CLOSE cursor variable In order to associate a cursor variable with a particular SELECT statement OPEN syntax is used. In order to free the resources used for the query CLOSE statement is used.

Display Odd/ Even number of records?
Odd number of records:
select * from emp where (rowid,1) in (select rowid, mod(rownum,2) from emp);
Output:-
1
3
5
Even number of records:
select * from emp where (rowid,0) in (select rowid, mod(rownum,2) from emp)
Output:-
2
4
6

What are various constraints used in SQL?
-NULL
-NOT NULL
-CHECK
-DEFAULT

Can cursor variables be stored in PL/SQL tables. If yes how. If not why?
No, a cursor variable points a row which cannot be stored in a two-dimensional PL/SQL table.

Difference between NO DATA FOUND and %NOTFOUND?
NO DATA FOUND is an exception raised only for the SELECT....INTO statements when the where clause of the querydoes not match any rows. When the where clause of the explicit cursor does not match any rows the %NOTFOUND attribute is set to TRUE instead.

Can you use a commit statement within a database trigger?
No

What WHERE CURRENT OF clause does in a cursor?
LOOP
SELECT num_credits INTO v_numcredits FROM classes
WHERE dept=123 and course=101;
UPDATE students
FHKO;;;;;;;;;SET current_credits=current_credits+v_numcredits
WHERE CURRENT OF X;

There is a string 120000 12 0 .125 , how you will find the position of the decimal place?
INSTR('120000 12 0 .125',1,'.')
output 13

What are different modes of parameters used in functions and procedures?
-IN -OUT -INOUT

How you were passing cursor variables in PL/SQL 2.2?
In PL/SQL 2.2 cursor variables cannot be declared in a package.This is because the storage for a cursor variable has to be allocated using Pro*C or OCI with version 2.2, the only means of passing a cursor variable to a PL/SQL block is via bind variable or a procedure parameter.

When do you use WHERE clause and when do you use HAVING clause?
HAVING clause is used when you want to specify a condition for a group function and it is written after GROUP BY clause. The WHERE clause is used when you want to specify a condition for columns, single row functions except group functions and it is written before GROUP BY clause if it is used.

Difference between procedure and function.?
Functions are named PL/SQL blocks that return a value and can be called with arguments procedure a named block that can be called with parameter. A procedure all is a PL/SQL statement by itself, while a Function call is called as part of an expression.

Which is more faster - IN or EXISTS?
EXISTS is more faster than IN because EXISTS returns a Boolean value whereas IN returns a value.

What is syntax for dropping a procedure and a function .Are these operations possible?
Drop Procedure procedure_name
Drop Function function_name

How will you delete duplicating rows from a base table?
delete from table_name where rowid not in (select max(rowid) from table group by duplicate_values_field_name); or delete duplicate_values_field_name dv from table_name ta where rowid <(select min(rowid) from table_name tb where ta.dv=tb.dv);

Difference between database triggers and form triggers?
-Data base trigger(DBT) fires when a DML operation is performed on a data base table. Form trigger(FT) Fires when user presses a key or navigates between fields on the screen
-Can be row level or statement level No distinction between row level and statement level.
-Can manipulate data stored in Oracle tables via SQL Can manipulate data in Oracle tables as well as variables in forms.
-Can be fired from any session executing the triggering DML statements. Can be fired only from the form that define the trigger.
-Can cause other database triggers to fire. Can cause other database triggers to fire, but not other form triggers.

What is a cursor for loop?
Cursor For Loop is a loop where oracle implicitly declares a loop variable, the loop index that of the same record type as the cursor's record.

How you will avoid duplicating records in a query?
By using DISTINCT

What is a view ?
A view is stored procedure based on one or more tables, it’s a virtual table.

What is difference between UNIQUE and PRIMARY KEY constraints?
A table can have only one PRIMARY KEY whereas there can be any number of UNIQUE keys. The columns that compose PK are automatically define NOT NULL, whereas a column that compose a UNIQUE is not automatically defined to be mandatory must also specify the column is NOT NULL.

What is use of a cursor variable? How it is defined?
A cursor variable is associated with different statements at run time, which can hold different values at run time. Static cursors can only be associated with one run time query. A cursor variable is reference type (like a pointer in C).
Declaring a cursor variable:
TYPE type_name IS REF CURSOR RETURN return_type type_name is the name of the reference type,return_type is a record type indicating the types of the select list that will eventually be returned by the cursor variable.

How do you find the numbert of rows in a Table ?
A bad answer is count them (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table_name)
A good answer is :-
'By generating SQL to ANALYZE TABLE table_name COUNT STATISTICS by querying Oracle System Catalogues (e.g. USER_TABLES or ALL_TABLES).
The best answer is to refer to the utility which Oracle released which makes it unnecessary to do ANALYZE TABLE for each Table individually.

What is the maximum buffer size that can be specified using the DBMS_OUTPUT.ENABLE function?
1,000,00

What are cursor attributes?
-%ROWCOUNT
-%NOTFOUND
-%FOUND
-%ISOPEN

There is a % sign in one field of a column. What will be the query to find it?
'' Should be used before '%'.

What is ON DELETE CASCADE ?
When ON DELETE CASCADE is specified ORACLE maintains referential integrity by automatically removing dependent foreign key values if a referenced primary or unique key value is removed.

What is the fastest way of accessing a row in a table ?
Using ROWID.CONSTRAINTS

What is difference between TRUNCATE & DELETE ?
TRUNCATE commits after deleting entire table i.e., can not be rolled back. Database triggers do not fire on TRUNCATEDELETE allows the filtered deletion. Deleted records can be rolled back or committed. Database triggers fire on DELETE.

What is a transaction ?
Transaction is logical unit between two commits and commit and rollback.

What are the advantages of VIEW ?
To protect some of the columns of a table from other users.To hide complexity of a query.To hide complexity of calculations.

How will you a activate/deactivate integrity constraints ?
The integrity constraints can be enabled or disabled by ALTER TABLE ENABLE constraint/DISABLE constraint.

Where the integrity constraints are stored in Data Dictionary ?
The integrity constraints are stored in USER_CONSTRAINTS.

What is the Subquery ?
Sub query is a query whose return values are used in filtering conditions of the main query.

How to access the current value and next value from a sequence ? Is it possible to access the current value in a session before accessing next value ?
Sequence name CURRVAL, Sequence name NEXTVAL.It is not possible. Only if you access next value in the session, current value can be accessed.

What are the usage of SAVEPOINTS ?value in a session before accessing next value ?
SAVEPOINTS are used to subdivide a transaction into smaller parts. It enables rolling back part of a transaction. Maximum of five save points are allowed.

What is ROWID ?in a session before accessing next value ?
ROWID is a pseudo column attached to each row of a table. It is 18 character long, blockno, rownumber are the components of ROWID.

Explain Connect by Prior ?in a session before accessing next value ?
Retrieves rows in hierarchical order.e.g. select empno, ename from emp where.

How many LONG columns are allowed in a table ? Is it possible to use LONG columns in WHERE clause or ORDER BY ?
Only one LONG columns is allowed. It is not possible to use LONG column in WHERE or ORDER BY clause.

What is Referential Integrity ?
Maintaining data integrity through a set of rules that restrict the values of one or more columns of the tables based on the values of primary key or unique key of the referenced table.

What is a join ? Explain the different types of joins ?
Join is a query which retrieves related columns or rows from multiple tables.Self Join - Joining the table with itself.Equi Join - Joining two tables by equating two common columns.Non-Equi Join - Joining two tables by equating two common columns.Outer Join - Joining two tables in such a way that query can also retrieve rows that do not have corresponding join value in the other table.

If an unique key constraint on DATE column is created, will it validate the rows that are inserted with SYSDATE ?
It won't, Because SYSDATE format contains time attached with it.