Oracle Collection Methods

Collection Methods

PL/SQL provides the built-in collection methods that make collections easier to use. The following table lists the methods and their purpose:

S.N.	Method Name & Purpose
1	EXISTS(n) Returns TRUE if the nth element in a collection exists; otherwise returns FALSE.
2	COUNT Returns the number of elements that a collection currently contains.
3	LIMIT Checks the Maximum Size of a Collection.
4	FIRST Returns the first (smallest) index numbers in a collection that uses integer subscripts.
5	LAST Returns the last (largest) index numbers in a collection that uses integer subscripts.
6	PRIOR(n) Returns the index number that precedes index n in a collection.
7	NEXT(n) Returns the index number that succeeds index n.
8	EXTEND Appends one null element to a collection.
9	EXTEND(n) Appends n null elements to a collection.
10	EXTEND(n,i) Appends n copies of the ith element to a collection.
11	TRIM Removes one element from the end of a collection.
12	TRIM(n) Removes n elements from the end of a collection.
13	DELETE Removes all elements from a collection, setting COUNT to 0.
14	DELETE(n) Removes the nth element from an associative array with a numeric key or a nested table. If the associative array has a string key, the element corresponding to the key value is deleted. If n is null, DELETE(n) does nothing.
15	DELETE(m,n) Removes all elements in the range m..n from an associative array or nested table. If m is larger than n or if m or n is null, DELETE(m,n) does nothing.

Collection Exceptions

The following table provides the collection exceptions and when they are raised:

Collection Exception	Raised in Situations
COLLECTION_IS_NULL	You try to operate on an atomically null collection.
NO_DATA_FOUND	A subscript designates an element that was deleted, or a nonexistent element of an associative array.
SUBSCRIPT_BEYOND_COUNT	A subscript exceeds the number of elements in a collection.
SUBSCRIPT_OUTSIDE_LIMIT	A subscript is outside the allowed range.
VALUE_ERROR	A subscript is null or not convertible to the key type. This exception might occur if the key is defined as a PLS_INTEGER range, and the subscript is outside this range.