Question

I am trying to figure out the most simple way to return 2 or more rows using a select statement in pl/sql to the sqlplus output. Here is a basic example.

begin
  select sysdate,'12345' xid from dual
    union all
  select sysdate,'67890' xid from dual;
end;
/

Error is “an INTO clause is expected in this SELECT statement”

Answer 1

You would use a cursor to return the result of a query:

SQL> VARIABLE x REFCURSOR
SQL> BEGIN
  2     OPEN :x FOR SELECT ROWNUM FROM dual CONNECT BY LEVEL <= 3;
  3  END;
  4  /

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

SQL> PRINT x

    ROWNUM
----------
         1
         2
         3