You can use the keyword DEFAULT instead of the assignment operator to initialize variables. For example, the declaration
id CHAR := '0000';
can be rewritten as follows:
id CHAR DEFAULT '0000';
Use DEFAULT for variables that have a typical value. Use the assignment operator for variables (such as counters and accumulators) that have no typical value. A couple of examples follow:
basic_salary INTEGER DEFAULT 5000;
employee_count INTEGER := 0;
You can also use DEFAULT to initialize subprogram parameters, cursor parameters, and fields in a user-defined record.
