Number of rows affected by an UPDATE in PL/SQL

Question

I have a PL/SQL function (running on Oracle 10g) in which I update some rows. Is there a way to find out how many rows were affected by the UPDATE? When executing the query

Answer 1

For those who want the results from a plain command, the solution could be:

begin
  DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(TO_Char(SQL%ROWCOUNT)||' rows affected.');
end;

The basic problem is that SQL%ROWCOUNT is a PL/SQL variable (or function), and cannot be directly accessed from an SQL command. By using a noname PL/SQL block, this can be achieved.

... If anyone has a solution to use it in a SELECT Command, I would be interested.