Can't PL/SQL do the simple stuff that Transact-SQL can?

I'm having a difficult time seeing how Oracle can be so great when we can't even find a way to express simple Microsoft SQL Server Transact-SQL statements in equivalent PL/SQL. For instance here is something I'm not sure PL/SQL can do. It is the if exists() begin ... end clause:

if exists(select * from Test where name = 'Bob') begin end

How is that accomplished in PL/SQL? I've searched the documentation and the only thing they talk about is using exist in the where clause and for collections.

Another quite annoying thing is not being able to return a result set from a PL/SQL. I've seen nasty kludges where they return a cursor and then use the cursor to move through the result set.

Granted I find PL/SQL has a large number of cool functions, but the basics have to come first. Hopefully I'm just overlooking something in my manuals and books.

Thanks,
Jonathan Tew Received on Wed Feb 17 1999 - 19:35:43 CST