Name

CALL Statement

Synopsis

The CALL statement invokes a stored procedure.

Platform

Command

DB2

Supported, with variations

MySQL

Not supported

Oracle

Supported, with variations

PostgreSQL

Not supported

SQL Server

Not supported

SQL2003 Syntax

CALL procedure_name ([parameter [,...] ])

Keywords

CALL procedure_name

Specifies the stored procedure that you want to invoke. It must be a previously defined stored procedure that is available in the current user context (instance, database, schema, etc.).

(parameter [,...] )

Provides values for each input parameter required by the stored procedure. Each parameter listed is required by the stored procedure in the same ordinal position. Thus, the fifth parameter listed would provide the value for the fifth argument required by the stored procedure. The parameters must be enclosed in parentheses and separated by commas. Note that the parentheses are required even if there are no parameter values (e.g., even if there are no parameter values, you must still use CALL( )). Strings should be in single quotes. If the stored procedure has only OUT parameters, place host variables or parameter markers within the parentheses.

Rules at a Glance

The CALL statement makes it easy to invoke a stored procedure. Simply provide the name of the stored procedure and include any parameters used by the stored procedure, enclosing them within parentheses.

This Oracle example creates a simple stored procedure, and then calls it:

CREATE PROCEDURE update_employee_salary ...

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