PL/SQL - CASE Statement

Like the IF statement, the CASE statement selects one sequence of statements to execute. However, to select the sequence, the CASE statement uses a selector rather than multiple Boolean expressions. A selector is an expression, the value of which is used to select one of several alternatives.

Syntax

The syntax for the case statement in PL/SQL is −

CASE selector 
   WHEN 'value1' THEN S1; 
   WHEN 'value2' THEN S2; 
   WHEN 'value3' THEN S3; 
   ... 
   ELSE Sn;  -- default case 
END CASE;

Flow Diagram

Example

DECLARE 
   grade char(1) := 'A'; 
BEGIN 
   CASE grade 
      when 'A' then dbms_output.put_line('Excellent'); 
      when 'B' then dbms_output.put_line('Very good'); 
      when 'C' then dbms_output.put_line('Well done'); 
      when 'D' then dbms_output.put_line('You passed'); 
      when 'F' then dbms_output.put_line('Better try again'); 
      else dbms_output.put_line('No such grade'); 
   END CASE; 
END; 
/

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

Excellent  

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.