Laurent Schneider

How can I read user input in plsql?

kind of

begin
  write('Enter a value for x : ');
  read(x);
  write('you enterred '||x);
end;
/

the short answer is : you cannot do that.

Ok, let’s try to do it in Linux !

$ cat interactiveplsql.sql
set feedb off

create or replace directory tmp as '/tmp';

declare
inFile utl_file.file_type;
outFile utl_file.file_type;
x varchar2(40);
begin
inFile := utl_file.fopen('TMP','in','R');
outFile := utl_file.fopen('TMP','out','W');
utl_file.put_line(outFile,'Enter a value for x : ');
utl_file.fflush(outFile);
utl_file.get_line(inFile,x);
utl_file.put_line(outFile,'you enterred '||x);
utl_file.fclose(inFile);
utl_file.fclose(outFile);
end;
/

quit

$ mknod /tmp/out p; mknod /tmp/in p
$ (cat /tmp/out &);(sqlplus -s scott/tiger @interactiveplsql &
);cat>/tmp/in
Enter a value for x :
ABC123
you enterred ABC123