How to select into a variable in PL/SQL when the result might be null?

Question

Is there a way in to just run a query once to select into a variable, considering that the query might return nothing, then in that case the variable should be null.

Answer 1

I know it's an old thread, but I still think it's worth to answer it.

select (
        SELECT COLUMN FROM MY_TABLE WHERE ....
        ) into v_column
from dual;

Example of use:

declare v_column VARCHAR2(100);
begin
  select (SELECT TABLE_NAME FROM ALL_TABLES WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'DOES NOT EXIST')
  into v_column 
  from dual;
  DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('v_column=' || v_column);
end;