</synopsis>
to the main SQL engine. While forming the <command>SELECT</command> command,
any occurrences of <application>PL/pgSQL</application> variable names
- are replaced by parameters, as discussed in detail in
+ are replaced by query parameters, as discussed in detail in
<xref linkend="plpgsql-var-subst"/>.
This allows the query plan for the <command>SELECT</command> to
be prepared just once and then reused for subsequent
<application>PL/pgSQL</application>.
Anything not recognized as one of these statement types is presumed
to be an SQL command and is sent to the main database engine to execute,
- as described in <xref linkend="plpgsql-statements-sql-noresult"/>
- and <xref linkend="plpgsql-statements-sql-onerow"/>.
+ as described in <xref linkend="plpgsql-statements-general-sql"/>.
</para>
<sect2 id="plpgsql-statements-assignment">
</para>
</sect2>
- <sect2 id="plpgsql-statements-sql-noresult">
- <title>Executing a Command with No Result</title>
+ <sect2 id="plpgsql-statements-general-sql">
+ <title>Executing SQL Commands</title>
<para>
- For any SQL command that does not return rows, for example
- <command>INSERT</command> without a <literal>RETURNING</literal> clause, you can
- execute the command within a <application>PL/pgSQL</application> function
- just by writing the command.
+ In general, any SQL command that does not return rows can be executed
+ within a <application>PL/pgSQL</application> function just by writing
+ the command. For example, you could create and fill a table by writing
+<programlisting>
+CREATE TABLE mytable (id int primary key, data text);
+INSERT INTO mytable VALUES (1,'one'), (2,'two');
+</programlisting>
</para>
<para>
- Any <application>PL/pgSQL</application> variable name appearing
- in the command text is treated as a parameter, and then the
+ If the command does return rows (for example <command>SELECT</command>,
+ or <command>INSERT</command>/<command>UPDATE</command>/<command>DELETE</command>
+ with <literal>RETURNING</literal>), there are two ways to proceed.
+ When the command will return at most one row, or you only care about
+ the first row of output, write the command as usual but add
+ an <literal>INTO</literal> clause to capture the output, as described
+ in <xref linkend="plpgsql-statements-sql-onerow"/>.
+ To process all of the output rows, write the command as the data
+ source for a <command>FOR</command> loop, as described in
+ <xref linkend="plpgsql-records-iterating"/>.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Usually it is not sufficient just to execute statically-defined SQL
+ commands. Typically you'll want a command to use varying data values,
+ or even to vary in more fundamental ways such as by using different
+ table names at different times. Again, there are two ways to proceed
+ depending on the situation.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ <application>PL/pgSQL</application> variable values can be
+ automatically inserted into optimizable SQL commands, which
+ are <command>SELECT</command>, <command>INSERT</command>,
+ <command>UPDATE</command>, <command>DELETE</command>, and certain
+ utility commands that incorporate one of these, such
+ as <command>EXPLAIN</command> and <command>CREATE TABLE ... AS
+ SELECT</command>. In these commands,
+ any <application>PL/pgSQL</application> variable name appearing
+ in the command text is replaced by a query parameter, and then the
current value of the variable is provided as the parameter value
at run time. This is exactly like the processing described earlier
for expressions; for details see <xref linkend="plpgsql-var-subst"/>.
</para>
<para>
- When executing a SQL command in this way,
+ When executing an optimizable SQL command in this way,
<application>PL/pgSQL</application> may cache and re-use the execution
plan for the command, as discussed in
<xref linkend="plpgsql-plan-caching"/>.
</para>
+ <para>
+ Non-optimizable SQL commands (also called utility commands) are not
+ capable of accepting query parameters. So automatic substitution
+ of <application>PL/pgSQL</application> variables does not work in such
+ commands. To include non-constant text in a utility command executed
+ from <application>PL/pgSQL</application>, you must build the utility
+ command as a string and then <command>EXECUTE</command> it, as
+ discussed in <xref linkend="plpgsql-statements-executing-dyn"/>.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ <command>EXECUTE</command> must also be used if you want to modify
+ the command in some other way than supplying a data value, for example
+ by changing a table name.
+ </para>
+
<para>
Sometimes it is useful to evaluate an expression or <command>SELECT</command>
query but discard the result, for example when calling a function
place the query in parentheses. (In this case, the query can only
return one row.)
<application>PL/pgSQL</application> variables will be
- substituted into the query just as for commands that return no result,
+ substituted into the query just as described above,
and the plan is cached in the same way. Also, the special variable
<literal>FOUND</literal> is set to true if the query produced at
least one row, or false if it produced no rows (see
</sect2>
<sect2 id="plpgsql-statements-sql-onerow">
- <title>Executing a Query with a Single-Row Result</title>
+ <title>Executing a Command with a Single-Row Result</title>
<indexterm zone="plpgsql-statements-sql-onerow">
<primary>SELECT INTO</primary>
variable, or a comma-separated list of simple variables and
record/row fields.
<application>PL/pgSQL</application> variables will be
- substituted into the rest of the query, and the plan is cached,
- just as described above for commands that do not return rows.
+ substituted into the rest of the command (that is, everything but the
+ <literal>INTO</literal> clause) just as described above,
+ and the plan is cached in the same way.
This works for <command>SELECT</command>,
<command>INSERT</command>/<command>UPDATE</command>/<command>DELETE</command> with
- <literal>RETURNING</literal>, and utility commands that return row-set
- results (such as <command>EXPLAIN</command>).
+ <literal>RETURNING</literal>, and certain utility commands
+ that return row sets, such as <command>EXPLAIN</command>.
Except for the <literal>INTO</literal> clause, the SQL command is the same
as it would be written outside <application>PL/pgSQL</application>.
</para>
</tip>
<para>
- If a row or a variable list is used as target, the query's result columns
+ If a row variable or a variable list is used as target,
+ the command's result columns
must exactly match the structure of the target as to number and data
types, or else a run-time error
occurs. When a record variable is the target, it automatically
- configures itself to the row type of the query result columns.
+ configures itself to the row type of the command's result columns.
</para>
<para>
<para>
If <literal>STRICT</literal> is not specified in the <literal>INTO</literal>
clause, then <replaceable>target</replaceable> will be set to the first
- row returned by the query, or to nulls if the query returned no rows.
+ row returned by the command, or to nulls if the command returned no rows.
(Note that <quote>the first row</quote> is not
well-defined unless you've used <literal>ORDER BY</literal>.) Any result rows
after the first row are discarded.
END IF;
</programlisting>
- If the <literal>STRICT</literal> option is specified, the query must
+ If the <literal>STRICT</literal> option is specified, the command must
return exactly one row or a run-time error will be reported, either
<literal>NO_DATA_FOUND</literal> (no rows) or <literal>TOO_MANY_ROWS</literal>
(more than one row). You can use an exception block if you wish
then when an error is thrown because the requirements
of <literal>STRICT</literal> are not met, the <literal>DETAIL</literal> part of
the error message will include information about the parameters
- passed to the query.
+ passed to the command.
You can change the <literal>print_strict_params</literal>
setting for all functions by setting
<varname>plpgsql.print_strict_params</varname>, though only subsequent
</para>
</note>
- <para>
- To handle cases where you need to process multiple result rows
- from a SQL query, see <xref linkend="plpgsql-records-iterating"/>.
- </para>
-
</sect2>
<sect2 id="plpgsql-statements-executing-dyn">
<para>
The <literal>INTO</literal> clause specifies where the results of
- a SQL command returning rows should be assigned. If a row
+ a SQL command returning rows should be assigned. If a row variable
or variable list is provided, it must exactly match the structure
- of the query's results (when a
- record variable is used, it will configure itself to match the
- result structure automatically). If multiple rows are returned,
+ of the command's results; if a
+ record variable is provided, it will configure itself to match the
+ result structure automatically. If multiple rows are returned,
only the first will be assigned to the <literal>INTO</literal>
- variable. If no rows are returned, NULL is assigned to the
+ variable(s). If no rows are returned, NULL is assigned to the
<literal>INTO</literal> variable(s). If no <literal>INTO</literal>
- clause is specified, the query results are discarded.
+ clause is specified, the command results are discarded.
</para>
<para>
If the <literal>STRICT</literal> option is given, an error is reported
- unless the query produces exactly one row.
+ unless the command produces exactly one row.
</para>
<para>
USING checked_user, checked_date;
</programlisting>
A cleaner approach is to use <function>format()</function>'s <literal>%I</literal>
- specification for table or column names (strings separated by a
- newline are concatenated):
+ specification to insert table or column names with automatic quoting:
<programlisting>
EXECUTE format('SELECT count(*) FROM %I '
'WHERE inserted_by = $1 AND inserted <= $2', tabname)
INTO c
USING checked_user, checked_date;
</programlisting>
+ (This example relies on the SQL rule that string literals separated by a
+ newline are implicitly concatenated.)
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
Another restriction on parameter symbols is that they only work in
- <command>SELECT</command>, <command>INSERT</command>, <command>UPDATE</command>, and
- <command>DELETE</command> commands. In other statement
+ optimizable SQL commands
+ (<command>SELECT</command>, <command>INSERT</command>, <command>UPDATE</command>,
+ <command>DELETE</command>, and certain commands containing one of these).
+ In other statement
types (generically called utility statements), you must insert
values textually even if they are just data values.
</para>
</para>
<para>
- <application>PL/pgSQL</application> variables are substituted into the query text,
+ <application>PL/pgSQL</application> variables are replaced by query parameters,
and the query plan is cached for possible re-use, as discussed in
detail in <xref linkend="plpgsql-var-subst"/> and
<xref linkend="plpgsql-plan-caching"/>.
SQL statements and expressions within a <application>PL/pgSQL</application> function
can refer to variables and parameters of the function. Behind the scenes,
<application>PL/pgSQL</application> substitutes query parameters for such references.
- Parameters will only be substituted in places where a parameter or
- column reference is syntactically allowed. As an extreme case, consider
+ Query parameters will only be substituted in places where they are
+ syntactically permissible. As an extreme case, consider
this example of poor programming style:
<programlisting>
-INSERT INTO foo (foo) VALUES (foo);
+INSERT INTO foo (foo) VALUES (foo(foo));
</programlisting>
The first occurrence of <literal>foo</literal> must syntactically be a table
name, so it will not be substituted, even if the function has a variable
named <literal>foo</literal>. The second occurrence must be the name of a
- column of the table, so it will not be substituted either. Only the
- third occurrence is a candidate to be a reference to the function's
- variable.
+ column of that table, so it will not be substituted either. Likewise
+ the third occurrence must be a function name, so it also will not be
+ substituted for. Only the last occurrence is a candidate to be a
+ reference to a variable of the <application>PL/pgSQL</application>
+ function.
</para>
- <note>
- <para>
- <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> versions before 9.0 would try
- to substitute the variable in all three cases, leading to syntax errors.
- </para>
- </note>
+ <para>
+ Another way to understand this is that variable substitution can only
+ insert data values into a SQL command; it cannot dynamically change which
+ database objects are referenced by the command. (If you want to do
+ that, you must build a command string dynamically, as explained in
+ <xref linkend="plpgsql-statements-executing-dyn"/>.)
+ </para>
<para>
Since the names of variables are syntactically no different from the names
</para>
<para>
- Variable substitution does not happen in the command string given
+ Variable substitution does not happen in a command string given
to <command>EXECUTE</command> or one of its variants. If you need to
insert a varying value into such a command, do so as part of
constructing the string value, or use <literal>USING</literal>, as illustrated in
<para>
Variable substitution currently works only in <command>SELECT</command>,
- <command>INSERT</command>, <command>UPDATE</command>, and <command>DELETE</command> commands,
+ <command>INSERT</command>, <command>UPDATE</command>,
+ <command>DELETE</command>, and commands containing one of
+ these (such as <command>EXPLAIN</command> and <command>CREATE TABLE
+ ... AS SELECT</command>),
because the main SQL engine allows query parameters only in these
commands. To use a non-constant name or value in other statement
types (generically called utility statements), you must construct
<listitem>
<para>
If a name used in a SQL command could be either a column name of a
- table or a reference to a variable of the function,
- <application>PL/SQL</application> treats it as a column name. This corresponds
- to <application>PL/pgSQL</application>'s
+ table used in the command or a reference to a variable of the function,
+ <application>PL/SQL</application> treats it as a column name.
+ By default, <application>PL/pgSQL</application> will throw an error
+ complaining that the name is ambiguous. You can specify
<literal>plpgsql.variable_conflict</literal> = <literal>use_column</literal>
- behavior, which is not the default,
+ to change this behavior to match <application>PL/SQL</application>,
as explained in <xref linkend="plpgsql-var-subst"/>.
It's often best to avoid such ambiguities in the first place,
but if you have to port a large amount of code that depends on
projects / postgresql-pgindent.git / commitdiff