with this code:
SET SERVEROUTPUT ON
CREATE OR REPLACE
PROCEDURE update_price(p_cutoff IN CHAR) AS
change CONSTANT Real := 0.9;
CURSOR c_upgrade_p IS
SELECT price FROM (select price, start_date from items i, on_sale os
WHERE (i.id = os.item_id))
WHERE (TO_DATE(start_date,'DD-MON-YYYY') = TO_DATE(p_cutoff,'DD-MON-YYYY'))
FOR UPDATE OF PRICE;
BEGIN
FOR record IN c_upgrade_p LOOP
UPDATE items
SET price = price * 0.9
WHERE CURRENT OF c_upgrade_p;
END LOOP;
COMMIT;
END;
/
exec update_price('30-AUG-03');

i get an invalid row id error, why is this?

Try it without the inline view:

CURSOR c_upgrade_p IS
SELECT price
from items i, on_sale os
WHERE (i.id = os.item_id))
WHERE (TO_DATE(start_date,'DD-MON-YYYY') = TO_DATE(p_cutoff,'DD-MON-YYYY'))
FOR UPDATE OF PRICE;

BTW, does this: TO_DATE(start_date,...) mean that start_date is not a DATE???

the start_date is a date, i am just checking that the format is the same... i dont know how to change from inline...?

If start_date is a DATE, then don't use TO_DATE on it. And I showed you the version without the inline view, though I made a mistake or two. Here is the corrected version, with the unwanted TO_DATE removed:

CURSOR c_upgrade_p IS
SELECT price
from items i, on_sale os
WHERE i.id = os.item_id
AND start_date = TO_DATE(p_cutoff,'DD-MON-YYYY')
FOR UPDATE OF PRICE;

A DATE column doesn't have any format, it is stored in a special internal coding. Only use TO_DATE to convert a text string to a DATE, and use TO_CHAR to format a DATE for display.

thanks heaps. ill implement it today and see what happens!