how to exit the procedure if condition met in a loop PL SQL - sql

Question

Let's say I have a for loop
for i in array.first .. array.last loop
boolean := c(i) > d(i);
if boolean --is true then
exit the loop immediately and also exit the entire procedure
else if the boolean is never true til the end of the loop, exit the loop
and keep running other scripts in this procedure.
I know the 'EXIT' keyword needs to be inside of the loop in order to exit the loop if condition is met. And 'RETURN' needs to be outside of the loop, to exit the procedure.
But if I put 'RETURN' outside of the loop, then I think no matter what the result is from the loop, it will exit the entire procedure when the loop ends?

Answer 1

If you want to be didactic about it, you should use an EXIT to get out of the loop, then use a RETURN to exit from the procedure (duplicating any necessary tests), thus following the structured programming rule that "A procedure should only have a single entrance and a single exit". In practice 99.999% of programmers would just code the RETURN inside the body of the loop because A) it's clearer as to what's going on (you're not just getting out of the loop, you're returning from the procedure), and B) it's shorter. Do as you will. Best of luck.

Answer 2

define an exception, and when ever you want to exit raise and handle the exception as
create procedure exit_loop_example as
exit_loop_exception exception;
begin
/* previous code block */
begin
for i in 1..20 loop
raise exit_loop_exception;
end loop;
exception when
exit_loop_exception then
/* handle exit loop*/
null;
end;
/* next code block */
end;

Answer 3

The simple loop. It’s called simple for a reason: it starts simply with the LOOP keyword and ends with the END LOOP statement. The loop will terminate if you execute an EXIT, EXIT WHEN, or RETURN within the body of the loop (or if an exception is raised).
See Oracle Magazine

Answer 4

Following through with Tamás Kecskeméti's link, the only recommended way is to use a while loop with the desired condition specified in the beginning itself.
Below is and excerpt from the above link :
Code Listing 5: A WHILE loop with one exit
PROCEDURE display_multiple_years (
start_year_in IN PLS_INTEGER
, end_year_in IN PLS_INTEGER)
IS
l_current_year PLS_INTEGER := start_year_in;
BEGIN
WHILE ( l_current_year <= end_year_in
AND total_sales_for_year (l_current_year) > 0)
LOOP
display_total_sales_for_year (l_current_year);
l_current_year := l_current_year + 1;
END LOOP;
END display_multiple_years;