%NOTFOUND v16

The %NOTFOUND attribute is the logical opposite of %FOUND.

<cursor_name>%NOTFOUND

cursor_name is the name of the cursor for which a BOOLEAN data type of FALSE is returned if a row is retrieved from the result set of the cursor after a FETCH.

After the last row of the result set is fetched, the next FETCH results in %NOTFOUND returning TRUE. TRUE is also returned after the first FETCH if the result set has no rows to begin with.

Referencing %NOTFOUND on a cursor before it's opened or after it's closed results in an INVALID_CURSOR exception.

%NOTFOUND returns null if it's referenced when the cursor is open but before the first FETCH.

This example uses %NOTFOUND:

CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE cursor_example
IS
    v_emp_rec       emp%ROWTYPE;
    CURSOR emp_cur_1 IS SELECT * FROM emp;
BEGIN
    OPEN emp_cur_1;
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('EMPNO    ENAME');
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('-----    -------');
    LOOP
        FETCH emp_cur_1 INTO v_emp_rec;
        EXIT WHEN emp_cur_1%NOTFOUND;
        DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(v_emp_rec.empno || '     ' || v_emp_rec.ename);
    END LOOP;
    CLOSE emp_cur_1;
END;

The following is the output from this example:

EXEC cursor_example;

EMPNO    ENAME
-----    ------
7369     SMITH
7499     ALLEN
7521     WARD
7566     JONES
7654     MARTIN
7698     BLAKE
7782     CLARK
7788     SCOTT
7839     KING
7844     TURNER
7876     ADAMS
7900     JAMES
7902     FORD
7934     MILLER