PL/SQL and Transact-SQL support the use of the BEGIN...END terminology to specify statement blocks. Transact-SQL does not require the use of a statement block following the DECLARE statement. The BEGIN...END statement blocks are required for IF statements and WHILE loops if more than one statement is executed.
| Oracle | SQL Server |
|---|---|
| DECLARE DECLARE VARIABLES ... BEGIN -- THIS IS REQUIRED SYNTAX PROGRAM_STATEMENTS ... IF ...THEN STATEMENT1; STATEMENT2; STATEMENTN; END IF; WHILE ... LOOP STATEMENT1; STATEMENT2; STATEMENTN; END LOOP; END; -- THIS IS REQUIRED SYNTAX |
DECLARE DECLARE VARIABLES ... BEGIN -- THIS IS OPTIONAL SYNTAX PROGRAM_STATEMENTS ... IF ... BEGIN STATEMENT1 STATEMENT2 STATEMENTN END WHILE ... BEGIN STATEMENT1 STATEMENT2 STATEMENTN END END -- THIS IS OPTIONAL SYNTAX |
| BEGIN...END | Using BEGIN...END |