PL/SQL - Returning a table from a function - sql

Question

I am creating a function that returns a table as a result. This function is basically doing comparison between two tables, and returns data set that if two tables contain different data.
P_min_id and p_max_id are ignorable, and will be implemented in the future once this function is working.
I modified the original code from http://www.adp-gmbh.ch/ora/plsql/coll/return_table.html. The error messages are commented in the following code.
create or replace function return_objects(
p_min_id in number,
p_max_id in number
)
return t_nested_table as
v_ret t_nested_table;
begin
select * // Error(8,7): PL/SQL: SQL Statement ignored
into
v_ret
from
(
select
*
from
(
select * from
(
select * from SCHEMA.TEST
minus
select * from SCHEMA.TEST_1
)
union all
select * from
(
select * from SCHEMA.TEST_1
minus
select * from SCHEMA.TEST
)
)
)
return v_ret;
end return_objects;
It would be appreciated if you can fix my code, but I want to know why this code should not work. Please give me some keyword, so that I can research. or relevant website for reference would be also appreciated.

Answer 1

Add a semicolon after the end of the SQL statement and use bulk collect to populate the nested table. Here's a working example:
create or replace type t_nested_table is table of varchar2(100);
create or replace function return_objects(
p_min_id in number,
p_max_id in number
)
return t_nested_table as
v_ret t_nested_table;
begin
select *
bulk collect into v_ret
from
(
select 'A' from dual union all
select 'B' from dual
);
return v_ret;
end;
/
select return_objects(1,2) from dual;
UPDATE
Based on the question edits there is also a privilege issue. Your user probably has access to the tables through a role, but to create a function those privileges should be granted directly to your user.