PLS-00201: identifier 'USER INPUT' must be declared

Question

I'm getting the error "PLS-00201: identifier 'CHICAGO' must be declared" when I try to enter the user input at the prompt "Please enter the Region:" If I enter "CHICAGO" for example(without quotes of course) I get the PLS-00201 error. I can't figure out why- any ideas? Thanks in advance.

ACCEPT p_1 PROMPT 'PLEASE ENTER THE REGION:'

DECLARE
  V_CHILD  REGIONS.CHILD_NAME%TYPE := &p_1;
  V_PARENT REGIONS.PARENT_NAME%TYPE;
  CURSOR REG_CUR (p_child_name varchar2) IS 
    SELECT UPPER(CHILD_NAME) 
      FROM REGIONS
     where CHILD_NAME = p_child_name;

BEGIN
  OPEN REG_CUR (V_CHILD);
  FETCH reg_cur INTO V_CHILD;
  WHILE REG_CUR%FOUND LOOP
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(V_CHILD);
    FETCH reg_cur INTO V_CHILD;
  END LOOP;
  CLOSE REG_CUR;
END;

Answer 1

If you're expecting a string, you need to enclose the substitution variable in quotes when you use it:

  V_CHILD  REGIONS.CHILD_NAME%TYPE := '&p_1';

As it is, it's trying to interpret the substituted value as an identifier, i.e. another variable or a column name. So if you entered CHICAGO it would see:

  V_CHILD  REGIONS.CHILD_NAME%TYPE := CHICAGO;

and if you entered "CHICAGO":

  V_CHILD  REGIONS.CHILD_NAME%TYPE := "CHICAGO";

In Oracle using double quotes still indicates an identifier. You could in fact have entered 'CHICAGO', with quotes in your input, and it would have worked - but not ideal to have to remember to do that.

If you set verify on in SQL*Plus or SQL Developer then you can see the before and after of each substitution, which can help identitify things like this.