PL/SQL - Nested Loops
PL/SQL allows using one loop inside another loop. Following section shows few examples to illustrate the concept.
The syntax for a nested basic LOOP statement in PL/SQL is as follows:
LOOP Sequence of statements1 LOOP Sequence of statements2 END LOOP; END LOOP;
The syntax for a nested FOR LOOP statement in PL/SQL is as follows:
FOR counter1 IN initial_value1 .. final_value1 LOOP sequence_of_statements1 FOR counter2 IN initial_value2 .. final_value2 LOOP sequence_of_statements2 END LOOP; END LOOP;
The syntax for a nested WHILE LOOP statement in Pascal is as follows:
WHILE condition1 LOOP sequence_of_statements1 WHILE condition2 LOOP sequence_of_statements2 END LOOP; END LOOP;
The following program uses a nested basic loop to find the prime numbers from 2 to 100:
DECLARE i number(3); j number(3); BEGIN i := 2; LOOP j:= 2; LOOP exit WHEN ((mod(i, j) = 0) or (j = i)); j := j +1; END LOOP; IF (j = i ) THEN dbms_output.put_line(i || ' is prime'); END IF; i := i + 1; exit WHEN i = 50; END LOOP; END; /
When the above code is executed at SQL prompt, it produces the following result:
2 is prime 3 is prime 5 is prime 7 is prime 11 is prime 13 is prime 17 is prime 19 is prime 23 is prime 29 is prime 31 is prime 37 is prime 41 is prime 43 is prime 47 is prime PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.