Table of Contents

42.1. Overview

42.1.1. Advantages of Using PL/pgSQL

42.1.2. Supported Argument and Result Data Types

42.2. Structure of PL/pgSQL

42.3. Declarations

42.3.1. Declaring Function Parameters

42.3.2. ALIAS

42.3.3. Copying Types

42.3.4. Row Types

42.3.5. Record Types

42.3.6. Collation of PL/pgSQL Variables

42.4. Expressions

42.5. Basic Statements

42.5.1. Assignment

42.5.2. Executing a Command With No Result

42.5.3. Executing a Query with a Single-row Result

42.5.4. Executing Dynamic Commands

42.5.5. Obtaining the Result Status

42.5.6. Doing Nothing At All

42.6. Control Structures

42.6.1. Returning From a Function

42.6.2. Conditionals

42.6.3. Simple Loops

42.6.4. Looping Through Query Results

42.6.5. Looping Through Arrays

42.6.6. Trapping Errors

42.6.7. Obtaining Execution Location Information

42.7. Cursors

42.7.1. Declaring Cursor Variables

42.7.2. Opening Cursors

42.7.3. Using Cursors

42.7.4. Looping Through a Cursor's Result

42.8. Errors and Messages

42.8.1. Reporting Errors and Messages

42.8.2. Checking Assertions

42.9. Trigger Procedures

42.9.1. Triggers on Data Changes

42.9.2. Triggers on Events

42.10. PL/pgSQL Under the Hood

42.10.1. Variable Substitution

42.10.2. Plan Caching

42.11. Tips for Developing in PL/pgSQL

42.11.1. Handling of Quotation Marks

42.11.2. Additional Compile-time Checks

42.12. Porting from Oracle PL/SQL

42.12.1. Porting Examples

42.12.2. Other Things to Watch For

42.12.3. Appendix