ORA-01422: exact fetch returns more than one requested number of rows tips

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Question:

I continue to receive this ORA-01422 message whenever I get to this stage in the process:

UPDATE TT_FERMS
SET assigned_system_id = 2
WHERE ferm_bank = 3
RETURNING ( SPAC_ASSIGN_FERMS.xfer_seq + 1 ), SPAC_ASSIGN_FERMS.xfer_seq
+ 1 INTO SPAC_ASSIGN_FERMS.xfer_seq, SPAC_ASSIGN_FERMS.xfer_seq;


ERROR:ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01422: exact fetch returns more than requested number of rows
ORA-06512: at "BREW_SCHED.SPAC_ASSIGN_FERMS", line 959
 

Answer:

There are several options to resolve ORA-01422, which take some time to figure out which option is appropriate for you.  Here are some things you may want to try:

• This is most likely signifying that you have updated multiple rows.  Because of this, Oracle throws the ORA-01422 error because it is not able to return the variables in simple variables.  To remedy this, try BULK COLLECT in a table such as the below:

SQL> declare
2 type num_tab is table of number;
3 empno_tab num_tab;
4 begin
5 update emp set ename = ename
6 returning empno bulk collect into empno_tab;
7 for i in 1..empno_tab.count loop
8 dbms_output.put_line('updated empno '||empno_tab(i));
9 end loop;
10 end;
11 /
updated empno 7839
updated empno 7698
updated empno 7782
updated empno 7566
updated empno 7788
updated empno 7902
updated empno 7369
updated empno 7499
updated empno 7521
updated empno 7654
updated empno 7844
updated empno 7876
updated empno 7900
updated empno 7934

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

• You may want to declare SPAC_ASSIGN_FERMS.xfer_seq because a table may be needed if multiple rows are being updated.
• If, from update, you are trying to return two values, you should consider defining my_tab
• Try using a table of a record with two fields, and the record with two fields itself. (NOTE: as of 9.2.0.6, you are not able to use composite targets and returning clauses together. However, returning to collections is allowed.)