/*
    function: empl_count
         expects nothing, returns the number of rows
	   currently in the empl table
    example:
         from a PL/SQL subroutine, if the empl table
	   currentl has 11 rows, then this is true:

	    empl_count = 11

         from the SQL*Plus level, the following would
	   work:
   
         SQL> var num_now number
         SQL> exec :num_now := empl_count
         SQL> print num_now

*/

create or replace function empl_count return integer is
    num_empls integer;
begin
    select count(*)
    into num_empls
    from empl;

    return num_empls;
end;
/ 
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