PL/SQL allows using one loop inside another loop. The following section shows a 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;
Example
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 the 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.
