PL/SQL - GOTO Statement - Adglob Infosystem Pvt Ltd

A GOTO statement in PL/SQL programming language provides an unconditional jump from the GOTO to a labeled statement in the same subprogram.

NOTE − The use of the GOTO statement is not recommended in any programming language because it makes it difficult to trace the control flow of a program, making the program hard to understand and hard to modify. Any program that uses a GOTO can be rewritten so that it doesn’t need the GOTO.

Syntax

The syntax for a GOTO statement in PL/SQL is as follows −

GOTO label;

..

..

<< label >>

statement;

Flow Diagram

Example

DECLARE

   a number(2) := 10;

BEGIN

   <<loopstart>>

   -- while loop execution

   WHILE a < 20 LOOP

   dbms_output.put_line ('value of a: ' || a);

      a := a + 1;

      IF a = 15 THEN

         a := a + 1;

         GOTO loopstart;

      END IF;

   END LOOP;

END;

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the following result −

value of a: 10

value of a: 11

value of a: 12

value of a: 13

value of a: 14

value of a: 16

value of a: 17

value of a: 18

value of a: 19

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Restrictions with GOTO Statement

GOTO Statement in PL/SQL imposes the following restrictions −

A GOTO statement cannot branch into an IF statement, CASE statement, LOOP statement or sub-block.
A GOTO statement cannot branch from one IF statement clause to another or from one CASE statement WHEN clause to another.
A GOTO statement cannot branch from an outer block into a sub-block (i.e., an inner BEGIN-END block).
A GOTO statement cannot branch out of a subprogram. To end a subprogram early, either use the RETURN statement or have GOTO branch to a place right before the end of the subprogram.
A GOTO statement cannot branch from an exception handler back into the current BEGIN-END block. However, a GOTO statement can branch from an exception handler into an enclosing block.