I find Difference between %NOTFOUND & NO_DATA_FOUND. post by S. Inderjeet Singh quite interesting.

So I decided to research on it and contribute towards it.

NO_DATA_FOUND is not only related to a table in database. In fact it is raised under following condition:

1. An Implicit query returns not data.

2. An attempt is made to refer a row in a PL/SQL table which has not been defined.

3. Attempt is made by built-in packages of Oracle Tools to read the operating system file past its end.

Best thing about NO_DATA_FOUND exceptions is that it is not a reserved word exception and matter of fact is an expection that is declared in package named “STANDARD” in SYS schema as follows:

NO_DATA_FOUND exception;
pragma EXCEPTION_INIT(NO_DATA_FOUND, 100);

In reality this condition is not an error but a situation where we are trying to read which no more exist. In SQL and PL/SQL point of view this is not an error.

But due to default package STANDARD, it is treated as an exception.

Note: There are two default packages related to PL/SQL one is STANDARD and other is DBMS_STANDARD.