SQL> CREATE TABLE dummy ( dummy_value VARCHAR2(1)); Table created. SQL> SQL> SQL> DECLARE 2 my_string VARCHAR2(1) := ' '; 3 my_number NUMBER; 4 5 BEGIN 6 7 SELECT ' ' INTO my_string FROM dummy; 8 9 my_number := TO_NUMBER(my_string); 10 11 EXCEPTION 12 13 WHEN no_data_found THEN 14 dbms_output.put_line('SELECT-INTO'||CHR(10)||SQLERRM); 15 16 END; 17 / SELECT-INTO ORA-01403: no data found PL/SQL procedure successfully completed. SQL> SQL> SQL> drop table dummy; Table dropped. SQL> SQL>