DEFINE vs DECLARE - escaping quotes - stored-procedures

Question

I have defined a variable
define myStrings = "'abc','def'"
which I later need to use inside a procedure block and convert into a table of varchars
declare
type varcharListType is table of varchar(200);
myList varcharListType;
begin
myList := varcharListType(&myStrings);
.
.
.
end;
/
I am attempting to use either the variable or the table inside an IN clause in a create query within the procedure block
execute immediate 'create table tmp_foo '
|| 'as select * from bar '
|| 'where bar_val in (&myStrings) ';
I have tried using the REPLACE function also
myNewStrings := replace(&myStrings, '''' , '''''');
but I get an exception related to abc and def not being defined.
ISSUE:
I am getting a syntax exception because the quotes around abc and def in myString are not escaped. The value "'abc','def'" must be 'defined' rather then 'declared' so it is substituted later.
QUESTION:
Is it possible to 'define' a variable in such a way that I can use it both as table type values and also a string in the execute immediate statement?
TO REPRODUCE:
Create
create table bar (bar_id number not null, bar_val varchar2(20),
constraint bar_pk primary key (bar_id)
enable
);
Insert
insert into bar (bar_id, bar_val)
values (1, 'abc'),
(2, 'def'),
(3, 'ghi');
SAMPLE PROCEDURE
set verify off;
set serveroutput on;
define myStrings = "'abc','def'"
declare
type varcharListType is table of varchar(20);
myList varcharListType;
begin
myList := varcharListType(&myStrings);
execute immediate 'create table tmp_foo '
|| 'as select * from bar '
|| 'where bar_val in (&myStrings) ';
for i in myList.FIRST..myList.LAST loop
dbms_output.put_line('VALUE: ' || myList(i));
end loop;
end;
/
set serveroutput off;
set verify on;

Answer 1

The below is the approch I would take, Note the use of tablen in the loop, this is because the DBMS_UTILITY.COMMA_TO_TABLE procedure adds a null value at the end of the table.
Hope you find this helpfull
declare
myStrings varchar2(100) := '''abc'',''def''';
myList dbms_utility.uncl_array;
tablen number :=0;
begin
DBMS_UTILITY.COMMA_TO_TABLE ( replace(myStrings, '''', ''), tablen, myList);
execute immediate 'create table tmp_foo '
|| 'as select * from bar '
|| 'where bar_val in (' ||myStrings||')';
for i in myList.FIRST..tablen loop
dbms_output.put_line('VALUE: ' || myList(i));
end loop;
end;
/

Answer 2

Thanks to #ShaunPeterson for inspiring the solution to this issue. While it solve the issue directly it provided the correct approach so all +1s should go to him.
Where his answer fell short was that he 'declared' myStrings rather then 'defining' it.
declare
myStrings varchar2(100) := '''abc'',''def''';
NOT
define myStrings = "'abc','def'"
Herein lay the crux of the issue. In PL/SQL variables that are 'declared' for a procedure block like myStringsVar below are not substituted like 'defined' variables are. As per the OP the requirement was that 'myStrings' was first 'defined' then later transformed for use in a procedure block.
Therefore the resulting solution looks like this:
define myStrings = "''abc'',''def''"
declare
myStringsVar varchar2(100) := '&myStrings';
myList dbms_utility.uncl_array;
tablen number :=0;
begin
DBMS_UTILITY.COMMA_TO_TABLE ( replace(myStringsVar, '''', ''), tablen, myList);
execute immediate 'create table tmp_foo '
|| 'as select * from bar '
|| 'where bar_val in (' || myStringsVar||')';
for i in myList.FIRST..tablen loop
dbms_output.put_line('VALUE: ' || myList(i));
end loop;
end;
/