Question

how can I turn this code into a function with the same output?

declare
  record_name employees%ROWTYPE; 
begin
  FOR record_name IN (SELECT (a.first_name || ' ' || a.last_name) complete_name,
                      b.DEPARTMENT_NAME complete_name2
                     FROM employees a , departments b
                     WHERE ROWNUM < 1000 and a.DEPARTMENT_ID=b.DEPARTMENT_ID)
  LOOP 
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Employee name: ' || record_name.complete_name 
                           ||'DEPARTMENT name: '||record_name.complete_name2);
  END LOOP;
END;

Answer 1

create or replace function SOME_FUNCTION
RETURN VARCHAR
AS
  record_name employees%ROWTYPE;
  out_stmt varchar(4000); 
  TOO_LONG EXCEPTION;
BEGIN
  FOR record_name IN (SELECT (a.first_name || ' ' || a.last_name) complete_name,
                      b.DEPARTMENT_NAME complete_name2
                     FROM employees a , departments b
                     WHERE ROWNUM < 1000 and a.DEPARTMENT_ID=b.DEPARTMENT_ID)
  LOOP
    IF (LENGTH(out_stmt) < 4000) THEN
       out_stmt := out_stmt || 'Employee name: ' || record_name.complete_name || 'DEPARTMENT name: '||record_name.complete_name2;
    ELSE
       RAISE TOO_LONG;
    END IF;
  END LOOP;
  return out_stmt;
EXCEPTION
   WHEN TOO_LONG THEN
      RETURN 'OVERFLOW';
END;

Fast example, i don’t know whether is some type that not have integrity limitation because not always will be varchar(4000) enought. but i heard something about this type but now i dont exactly know wether exists.

When you will work with this in app layer, must somehow format returned string.