SELECT from DUAL??

I have come across many instances where people use a select from dual to determine or assign a value to a local variable, for example:

SELECT sysdateinto l_date FROM dual

what is the benefit of this over using a standard assignment expression? ie: l_date := sysdate;

Just wondering....
thanks in advance.

JR Received on Wed Jan 17 2001 - 16:56:20 CST