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Differences between bind and lexical references

Bind references are used to replace a single value in SQL or PL/SQL. Specifically, bind references may be used to replace expressions in SELECT, WHERE, GROUP BY, ORDER BY, HAVING, CONNECT BY, and START WITH clauses of queries. Bind references may not be used in a FROM clause. An example is:

SELECT ORDID,TOTAL 
  FROM ORD
  WHERE CUSTID = :CUST

Lexical references are placeholders for text that you embed in a SELECT statement, when you want the parameter to substitute multiple values at runtime. You can use lexical references to replace the clauses appearing after SELECT, FROM, WHERE, GROUP BY, ORDER BY, HAVING, CONNECT BY, and START WITH. You cannot make lexical references in PL/SQL. Before you reference a lexical parameter for a column or table, you must have predefined the parameter and given it an initial value. . An example is:

SELECT ORDID, TOTAL
  FROM &ATABLE

See also

About bind references

About lexical references