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>PostgreSQL 8.3.6 Documentation</TH
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>Chapter 38. <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>PL/pgSQL</SPAN
> - <ACRONYM
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>SQL</ACRONYM
> Procedural Language</TD
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><H1
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><A
NAME="PLPGSQL-OVERVIEW"
>38.1. Overview</A
></H1
><P
>  <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>PL/pgSQL</SPAN
> is a loadable procedural
  language for the <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
> database
  system.  The design goals of <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>PL/pgSQL</SPAN
> were to create
  a loadable procedural language that

    <P
></P
></P><UL
><LI
><P
>       can be used to create functions and trigger procedures,
      </P
></LI
><LI
><P
>       adds control structures to the <ACRONYM
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>SQL</ACRONYM
> language,
      </P
></LI
><LI
><P
>       can perform complex computations,
      </P
></LI
><LI
><P
>       inherits all user-defined types, functions, and operators,
      </P
></LI
><LI
><P
>       can be defined to be trusted by the server,
      </P
></LI
><LI
><P
>       is easy to use.
      </P
></LI
></UL
><P>
   </P
><P
>    Functions created with <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>PL/pgSQL</SPAN
> can be
    used anywhere that built-in functions could be used.
    For example, it is possible to
    create complex conditional computation functions and later use
    them to define operators or use them in index expressions.
   </P
><DIV
CLASS="SECT2"
><H2
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
NAME="PLPGSQL-ADVANTAGES"
>38.1.1. Advantages of Using <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>PL/pgSQL</SPAN
></A
></H2
><P
>     <ACRONYM
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>SQL</ACRONYM
> is the language <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
>
     and most other relational databases use as query language. It's
     portable and easy to learn. But every <ACRONYM
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>SQL</ACRONYM
>
     statement must be executed individually by the database server.
    </P
><P
>     That means that your client application must send each query to
     the database server, wait for it to be processed, receive and
     process the results, do some computation, then send further
     queries to the server.  All this incurs interprocess
     communication and will also incur network overhead if your client
     is on a different machine than the database server.
    </P
><P
>     With <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>PL/pgSQL</SPAN
> you can group a block of
     computation and a series of queries <SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>inside</I
></SPAN
>
     the database server, thus having the power of a procedural
     language and the ease of use of SQL, but with considerable
     savings of client/server communication overhead.
    </P
><P
></P
><UL
><LI
><P
> Extra round trips between
     client and server are eliminated </P
></LI
><LI
><P
> Intermediate results that the client does not
     need do not have to be marshaled or transferred between server
     and client </P
></LI
><LI
><P
> Multiple rounds of query
     parsing can be avoided </P
></LI
></UL
><P
> This can result in a considerable performance increase as
    compared to an application that does not use stored functions.
    </P
><P
>     Also, with <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>PL/pgSQL</SPAN
> you can use all
     the data types, operators and functions of SQL.
    </P
></DIV
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><H2
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
NAME="PLPGSQL-ARGS-RESULTS"
>38.1.2. Supported Argument and Result Data Types</A
></H2
><P
>     Functions written in <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>PL/pgSQL</SPAN
> can accept
     as arguments any scalar or array data type supported by the server,
     and they can return a result of any of these types.  They can also
     accept or return any composite type (row type) specified by name.
     It is also possible to declare a <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>PL/pgSQL</SPAN
>
     function as returning <TT
CLASS="TYPE"
>record</TT
>, which means that the result
     is a row type whose columns are determined by specification in the
     calling query, as discussed in <A
HREF="queries-table-expressions.html#QUERIES-TABLEFUNCTIONS"
>Section 7.2.1.4</A
>.
    </P
><P
>     <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>PL/pgSQL</SPAN
> functions can also be declared to accept
     and return the polymorphic types
     <TT
CLASS="TYPE"
>anyelement</TT
>, <TT
CLASS="TYPE"
>anyarray</TT
>, <TT
CLASS="TYPE"
>anynonarray</TT
>,
     and <TT
CLASS="TYPE"
>anyenum</TT
>.  The actual
     data types handled by a polymorphic function can vary from call to
     call, as discussed in <A
HREF="extend-type-system.html#EXTEND-TYPES-POLYMORPHIC"
>Section 34.2.5</A
>.
     An example is shown in <A
HREF="plpgsql-declarations.html#PLPGSQL-DECLARATION-ALIASES"
>Section 38.3.1</A
>.
    </P
><P
>     <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>PL/pgSQL</SPAN
> functions can also be declared to return
     a <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"set"</SPAN
> (or table) of any data type that can be returned as
     a single instance.  Such a function generates its output by executing
     <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>RETURN NEXT</TT
> for each desired element of the result
     set, or by using <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>RETURN QUERY</TT
> to output the result of
     evaluating a query.
    </P
><P
>     Finally, a <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>PL/pgSQL</SPAN
> function can be declared to return
     <TT
CLASS="TYPE"
>void</TT
> if it has no useful return value.
    </P
><P
>     <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>PL/pgSQL</SPAN
> functions can also be declared with output
     parameters in place of an explicit specification of the return type.
     This does not add any fundamental capability to the language, but
     it is often convenient, especially for returning multiple values.
    </P
><P
>     Specific examples appear in
     <A
HREF="plpgsql-declarations.html#PLPGSQL-DECLARATION-ALIASES"
>Section 38.3.1</A
> and
     <A
HREF="plpgsql-control-structures.html#PLPGSQL-STATEMENTS-RETURNING"
>Section 38.6.1</A
>.
    </P
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