This should work: VARIABLE rs REFCURSOR; Begin open :rs for select a from table inner join b.....; End; / print rs; -----Original Message----- From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Harvinder Singh Sent: Friday, August 25, 2006 1:37 PM To: ORACLE-L Subject: SYS_refcursor in pl/sql block Hi, We are using SYS_REFCURSOR in our procedures as out put parameter to return the result of a query, is there any equivalent I can use in pl/sql block without a procedure. Here is what we are trying to do: Begin Insert into table....; Select a from table inner join b.....; End; Since Oracle don't allow select without into clause in pl/sql, I added a variable of syscursor but now I am not getting error but not getting the result set also: Declare A sys_refcursor; Begin Insert into table....; Open a for Select a from table inner join b.....; End; Is there any option that we can use without converting this to procedure? Thanks --Harvinder -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l