WITH Clause Enhancements in Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1)
By Jag - August 17, 2013
In addition to the Subquery Factoring Clause, Oracle 12c includes a PL/SQL declaration section in the
WITH
clause.- Setup
- Functions in the WITH Clause
- Procedures in the WITH Clause
- PL/SQL Support
- Performance Advantages
- PRAGMA UDF
- WITH_PLSQL Hint
- DETERMINISTIC Hint
- Scalar Subquery Caching
Related articles.
- WITH Clause : Subquery Factoring
- Efficient Function Calls From SQL
Setup
The examples in this article require the following test table.
DROP TABLE t1 PURGE; CREATE TABLE t1 AS SELECT 1 AS id FROM dual CONNECT BY level <= 1000000; COMMIT; -- Gathering stats on a CTAS is no longer necessary in 12c, -- provided the statement is issued by a non-SYS user. -- EXEC DBMS_STATS.gather_table_stats(USER, 't1');
Functions in the WITH Clause
The declaration section of the
WITH
clause can be used to define PL/SQL functions, as shown below.WITH FUNCTION with_function(p_id IN NUMBER) RETURN NUMBER IS BEGIN RETURN p_id; END; SELECT with_function(id) FROM t1 WHERE rownum = 1 / WITH_FUNCTION(ID) ----------------- 1 SQL>
Interestingly, the ";" does not seem to work as a terminator to the SQL statement when the PL/SQL declaration is included in the
WITH
clause. If we attempt to use it on its own, SQL*Plus waits for more text to be entered. Even the example in the SQL Reference manual uses a combination of ";" and "/".
From a name resolution perspective, functions defined in the PL/SQL declaration section of the
WITH
clause take precedence over objects with the same name defined at the schema level.Procedures in the WITH Clause
We can also define procedures in the declaration section, even if they are not used.
SET SERVEROUTPUT ON WITH PROCEDURE with_procedure(p_id IN NUMBER) IS BEGIN DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line('p_id=' || p_id); END; SELECT id FROM t1 WHERE rownum = 1 / ID ---------- 1 SQL>
In reality, you would only put a procedure into a
WITH
clause if you planned to call the procedure from a function in the declaration section.WITH PROCEDURE with_procedure(p_id IN NUMBER) IS BEGIN DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line('p_id=' || p_id); END; FUNCTION with_function(p_id IN NUMBER) RETURN NUMBER IS BEGIN with_procedure(p_id); RETURN p_id; END; SELECT with_function(id) FROM t1 WHERE rownum = 1 / WITH_FUNCTION(ID) ----------------- 1 p_id=1 SQL>
PL/SQL Support
There does not appear to be any PL/SQL support for this feature. Any attempt to use it results in compilation errors, as shown below.
BEGIN FOR cur_rec IN (WITH FUNCTION with_function(p_id IN NUMBER) RETURN NUMBER IS BEGIN RETURN p_id; END; SELECT with_function(id) FROM t1 WHERE rownum = 1) LOOP NULL; END LOOP; END; / FUNCTION with_function(p_id IN NUMBER) RETURN NUMBER IS * ERROR at line 3: ORA-06550: line 3, column 30: PL/SQL: ORA-00905: missing keyword ORA-06550: line 2, column 19: PL/SQL: SQL Statement ignored ORA-06550: line 5, column 34: PLS-00103: Encountered the symbol ";" when expecting one of the following: loop SQL>
Using dynamic SQL allows you to work around this restriction.
SET SERVEROUTPUT ON DECLARE l_sql VARCHAR2(32767); l_cursor SYS_REFCURSOR; l_value NUMBER; BEGIN l_sql := 'WITH FUNCTION with_function(p_id IN NUMBER) RETURN NUMBER IS BEGIN RETURN p_id; END; SELECT with_function(id) FROM t1 WHERE rownum = 1'; OPEN l_cursor FOR l_sql; FETCH l_cursor INTO l_value; DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line('l_value=' || l_value); CLOSE l_cursor; END; / l_value=1 PL/SQL procedure successfully completed. SQL>
Support for this feature using static SQL inside PL/SQL is due in a future release.
Performance Advantages
The whole reason for defining the PL/SQL code inline is to improve performance. Create a regular function to use as a comparison.
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION normal_function(p_id IN NUMBER) RETURN NUMBER IS BEGIN RETURN p_id; END; /
Run the following test, which measures the elapsed time and CPU usage of the query using the inline function definition.
SET SERVEROUTPUT ON DECLARE l_time PLS_INTEGER; l_cpu PLS_INTEGER; l_sql VARCHAR2(32767); l_cursor SYS_REFCURSOR; TYPE t_tab IS TABLE OF NUMBER; l_tab t_tab; BEGIN l_time := DBMS_UTILITY.get_time; l_cpu := DBMS_UTILITY.get_cpu_time; l_sql := 'WITH FUNCTION with_function(p_id IN NUMBER) RETURN NUMBER IS BEGIN RETURN p_id; END; SELECT with_function(id) FROM t1'; OPEN l_cursor FOR l_sql; FETCH l_cursor BULK COLLECT INTO l_tab; CLOSE l_cursor; DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line('WITH_FUNCTION : ' || 'Time=' || TO_CHAR(DBMS_UTILITY.get_time - l_time) || ' hsecs ' || 'CPU Time=' || (DBMS_UTILITY.get_cpu_time - l_cpu) || ' hsecs '); l_time := DBMS_UTILITY.get_time; l_cpu := DBMS_UTILITY.get_cpu_time; l_sql := 'SELECT normal_function(id) FROM t1'; OPEN l_cursor FOR l_sql; FETCH l_cursor BULK COLLECT INTO l_tab; CLOSE l_cursor; DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line('NORMAL_FUNCTION: ' || 'Time=' || TO_CHAR(DBMS_UTILITY.get_time - l_time) || ' hsecs ' || 'CPU Time=' || (DBMS_UTILITY.get_cpu_time - l_cpu) || ' hsecs '); END; / WITH_FUNCTION : Time=45 hsecs CPU Time=39 hsecs NORMAL_FUNCTION: Time=129 hsecs CPU Time=113 hsecs PL/SQL procedure successfully completed. SQL>
From this we can see the inline function definition takes approximately one third the elapsed time and CPU time to complete.
PRAGMA UDF
In a number of presentations prior to the official 12c release, speakers mentioned
PRAGMA UDF
(User Defined Function), which supposedly gives you the performance advantages of inline PL/SQL, whilst allowing you to define the PL/SQL object outside the SQL statement. The following code redefines the previous normal function to use this pragma.CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION normal_function(p_id IN NUMBER) RETURN NUMBER IS PRAGMA UDF; BEGIN RETURN p_id; END; /
Once the function is compiled, running the test from the previous section against this function produces rather interesting results.
SET SERVEROUTPUT ON DECLARE l_time PLS_INTEGER; l_cpu PLS_INTEGER; l_sql VARCHAR2(32767); l_cursor SYS_REFCURSOR; TYPE t_tab IS TABLE OF NUMBER; l_tab t_tab; BEGIN l_time := DBMS_UTILITY.get_time; l_cpu := DBMS_UTILITY.get_cpu_time; l_sql := 'WITH FUNCTION with_function(p_id IN NUMBER) RETURN NUMBER IS BEGIN RETURN p_id; END; SELECT with_function(id) FROM t1'; OPEN l_cursor FOR l_sql; FETCH l_cursor BULK COLLECT INTO l_tab; CLOSE l_cursor; DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line('WITH_FUNCTION : ' || 'Time=' || TO_CHAR(DBMS_UTILITY.get_time - l_time) || ' hsecs ' || 'CPU Time=' || (DBMS_UTILITY.get_cpu_time - l_cpu) || ' hsecs '); l_time := DBMS_UTILITY.get_time; l_cpu := DBMS_UTILITY.get_cpu_time; l_sql := 'SELECT normal_function(id) FROM t1'; OPEN l_cursor FOR l_sql; FETCH l_cursor BULK COLLECT INTO l_tab; CLOSE l_cursor; DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line('NORMAL_FUNCTION: ' || 'Time=' || TO_CHAR(DBMS_UTILITY.get_time - l_time) || ' hsecs ' || 'CPU Time=' || (DBMS_UTILITY.get_cpu_time - l_cpu) || ' hsecs '); END; / WITH_FUNCTION : Time=44 hsecs CPU Time=40 hsecs NORMAL_FUNCTION: Time=33 hsecs CPU Time=29 hsecs PL/SQL procedure successfully completed. SQL>
The standalone function using PRAGMA UDF seems to consistently out perform the inline function.
I was under the impression calling a function defined with
PRAGMA UDF
directly from PL/SQL would fail. This does not seem to be the case.DECLARE l_number NUMBER; BEGIN l_number := normal_function(1); END; / PL/SQL procedure successfully completed. SQL>
WITH_PLSQL Hint
If the query containing the PL/SQL declaration section is not the top level query, the top-level query must include the
WITH_PLSQL
hint. Without this hint, the statement will fail to compile, as shown by the following update statement.UPDATE t1 a SET a.id = (WITH FUNCTION with_function(p_id IN NUMBER) RETURN NUMBER IS BEGIN RETURN p_id; END; SELECT with_function(a.id) FROM dual); / SET a.id = (WITH * ERROR at line 2: ORA-32034: unsupported use of WITH clause SQL>
Adding the
WITH_PLSQL
hint allows the statement to compile and run as expected.UPDATE /*+ WITH_PLSQL */ t1 a SET a.id = (WITH FUNCTION with_function(p_id IN NUMBER) RETURN NUMBER IS BEGIN RETURN p_id; END; SELECT with_function(a.id) FROM dual); / 1000000 rows updated. SQL>
DETERMINISTIC Hint
As Jonathan Lewis pointed out here, the use of functions in the
WITH
clause prevent the DETERMINISTIC
optimizations from taking place.SET TIMING ON ARRAYSIZE 15 WITH FUNCTION slow_function(p_id IN NUMBER) RETURN NUMBER DETERMINISTIC IS BEGIN DBMS_LOCK.sleep(1); RETURN p_id; END; SELECT slow_function(id) FROM t1 WHERE ROWNUM <= 10; / SLOW_FUNCTION(ID) ----------------- 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10 rows selected. Elapsed: 00:00:10.07 SQL>
So be careful that in trying to improve performance, you don't actually decrease it. This is mostly likely a bug, so retest on future releases to make sure this still applies.
Scalar Subquery Caching
In the previous section we saw the negative impact of inline function definitions on the
DETERMINISTIC
hint optimizations. Fortunately, scalar subquery caching is not adversely affected in the same way.SET TIMING ON WITH FUNCTION slow_function(p_id IN NUMBER) RETURN NUMBER DETERMINISTIC IS BEGIN DBMS_LOCK.sleep(1); RETURN p_id; END; SELECT (SELECT slow_function(id) FROM dual) FROM t1 WHERE ROWNUM <= 10; / (SELECTSLOW_FUNCTION(ID)FROMDUAL) --------------------------------- 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10 rows selected. Elapsed: 00:00:01.04 SQL>
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