This was going to the be the immediate follow up to my previous post, but 12.1.0.2 came out and I got all excited about that and forgot to post this one :-) Anyway, the previous post showed how easy it is to convert between nested tables and associative arrays. The Nested table has no upper size limit. Since the upper size limit is not fixed, the collection, memory needs to be extended each time before we use it. However, a nested table differs from an array in these important ways: An array has a declared number of elements, but a nested table does not. Associative arrays are single-dimensional, unbounded, sparse collections of homogeneous elements. Oracle stores the nested table data in no particular order. Nested Table Collections in PL/SQL. Oracle 8 release identified the PL/SQL table as Index by table due to its structure as an index-value pair. Nested Tables. It has the numeric subscript type. color(3) is the 3rd color in varray color But when you retrieve the nested table into a PL/SQL variable, the rows are given consecutive subscripts starting at 1. Order is not preserved; Can be indexed; Varrays: VARRAYs are always bounded (varying arrays have a limited number of entries) Never sparse. Re: Difference between the nested table and associative array BluShadow Apr 8, 2011 12:19 PM ( in response to Smile ) smile wrote: In sqlplus cmd prompt i'm getting the compilation errors but in TOAD it is getting created Script Name Nested Tables of Associative Arrays and Varrays of Strings; Description In this example, aa1 is an associative array of associative arrays, and ntb2 is a nested table of varrays of strings. Introduction to Oracle PL/SQL associative arrays. varrays, nested tables, and pl/sql records, and pl/sql tables, and ref cursor Tomwhat is the difference between a varray and a nested table, can you give me a very very simple example , and explain the differencewhen should I use varrays and when should I use nested tablesthe same with pl/sql record and pl/sql tablesay I hvae a curser select ename,deptno from emp Nested tables can be stored in a database column, but associative arrays cannot. Here I am going to explain you about what are the major differences between VArrays and Nested Tables. A Nested table is a collection in which the size of the array is not fixed. It means that an associative array has a single column of data in each row, which is similar to a one-dimension array. Oracle 10g release recognized the behavior of index by tables as arrays so as to rename it as associative arrays due to association of an index with an array. Referencing and lookups: Similar to one-column database tables. Conceptually, a nested table is like a one-dimensional array with an arbitrary number of elements. Area PL/SQL General; Referenced In Database PL/SQL Language Reference; Contributor Oracle; Created Thursday February 02, 2017 Important Differences Between Nested Tables and Arrays. Unlike associative arrays, nested table collections do not have an index value and can be stored in a database column. The successful Oracle designers must master all object-oriented concepts, including abstract data typing, nested tables, array tables, and those unique data structure extensions that make Oracle clearly one of the fastest and most robust databases in the marketplace. Choosing Between Nested Tables and Associative Arrays. First, an associative array is single-dimensional. Nested Tables: Nested tables are unbounded. Referencing and lookups: Standard subscripting syntax e.g. In addition, some DML operations are possible on nested tables when they are stored in the database. Both nested tables and associative arrays (formerly known as index-by tables) use similar subscript notation, but they have different characteristics when it comes to persistence and ease of parameter passing. Below are more descriptions about nested table type. The nice thing in 12c is… Initially dense but can become sparse through deletions.