Execute stored procedure before select - sql

Question

I am trying to reset my random number seed before executing a SELECT FROM. However, every time I run it, I have to run both statements separately. Ideally, I would like to have the following work:
BEGIN
exec dbms_random.seed(6);
SELECT * FROM myTable
ORDER BY dbms_random.value()
END
I get an error Encountered the symbol DBMS_RANDOM when expecting one of the following :=.(#%; however if I only run exec dbms_random.seed(6); it works.

Answer 1

EXEC[UTE] is a SQLPLUS command, you can not use it into a PLSQL block.
Also, you need an INTO to use a SELECT query within a PLSQL block. If your query can give more than one row, you woud have to use a BULK COLLECT INTO.
Your code could be something like:
DECLARE
something myTable%rowtype;
BEGIN
dbms_random.seed(6);
SELECT *
INTO something
FROM myTable
ORDER BY dbms_random.value();
END;
However, I do not recommend using things like select *; it would be better to explicitly write the columns you need to get.

Answer 2

Also what's the use of an order by in a select into statement which is defined to only return 1 row?
It seems you want to select 1 random row of many which needs a cursor like so:
DECLARE
CURSOR something_cur IS
SELECT *
FROM myTable
ORDER BY dbms_random.value();
something_rec something_cur%ROWTYPE;
BEGIN
dbms_random.seed(6);
OPEN something_cur;
FETCH something_cur INTO something_rec;
CLOSE something_cur;
END;
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