About Records

A record is a PL/SQL composite variable that can store data values of different types, similar to a struct type in C, C++, or Java. The internal components of a record are called fields. To access a record field, you use dot notation: record_name.field_name.

You can treat record fields like scalar variables. You can also pass entire records as subprogram parameters (if neither the sending nor receiving subprogram is a standalone subprogram).

Records are useful for holding data from table rows, or from certain columns of table rows. Each record field corresponds to a table column.

There are three ways to create a record:

• Declare a RECORD type, and then declare a variable of that type.

  The syntax is:

  TYPE record_name IS RECORD
    ( field_name data_type [:= initial_value]
   [, field_name data_type [:= initial_value ] ]... );
  
  variable_name record_name;
  

• Declare a variable of the type table_name%ROWTYPE.

  The fields of the record have the same names and data types as the columns of the table.

• Declare a variable of the type cursor_name%ROWTYPE.

  The fields of the record have the same names and data types as the columns of the table in the FROM clause of the cursor SELECT statement.