35.4. Query Language (SQL) Functions

35.4.1. SQL Functions on Base Types

The simplest possible SQL function has no arguments and simply returns a base type, such as integer:

CREATE FUNCTION one() RETURNS integer AS $$
    SELECT 1 AS result;
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;

-- Alternative syntax for string literal:
CREATE FUNCTION one() RETURNS integer AS '
    SELECT 1 AS result;
' LANGUAGE SQL;

SELECT one();

 one
-----
   1

Notice that we defined a column alias within the function body for the result of the function (with the name result), but this column alias is not visible outside the function. Hence, the result is labeled one instead of result.

It is almost as easy to define SQL functions that take base types as arguments. In the example below, notice how we refer to the arguments within the function as $1 and $2.

CREATE FUNCTION add_em(integer, integer) RETURNS integer AS $$
    SELECT $1 + $2;
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;

SELECT add_em(1, 2) AS answer;

 answer
--------
      3

Here is a more useful function, which might be used to debit a bank account:

CREATE FUNCTION tf1 (integer, numeric) RETURNS integer AS $$
    UPDATE bank
        SET balance = balance - $2
        WHERE accountno = $1;
    SELECT 1;
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;

A user could execute this function to debit account 17 by $100.00 as follows:

SELECT tf1(17, 100.0);

In practice one would probably like a more useful result from the function than a constant 1, so a more likely definition is:

CREATE FUNCTION tf1 (integer, numeric) RETURNS numeric AS $$
    UPDATE bank
        SET balance = balance - $2
        WHERE accountno = $1;
    SELECT balance FROM bank WHERE accountno = $1;
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;

which adjusts the balance and returns the new balance. The same thing could be done in one command using RETURNING:

CREATE FUNCTION tf1 (integer, numeric) RETURNS numeric AS $$
    UPDATE bank
        SET balance = balance - $2
        WHERE accountno = $1
    RETURNING balance;
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;

35.4.2. SQL Functions on Composite Types

When writing functions with arguments of composite types, we must not only specify which argument we want (as we did above with $1 and $2) but also the desired attribute (field) of that argument. For example, suppose that emp is a table containing employee data, and therefore also the name of the composite type of each row of the table. Here is a function double_salary that computes what someone's salary would be if it were doubled:

CREATE TABLE emp (
    name        text,
    salary      numeric,
    age         integer,
    cubicle     point
);

INSERT INTO emp VALUES ('Bill', 4200, 45, '(2,1)');

CREATE FUNCTION double_salary(emp) RETURNS numeric AS $$
    SELECT $1.salary * 2 AS salary;
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;

SELECT name, double_salary(emp.*) AS dream
    FROM emp
    WHERE emp.cubicle ~= point '(2,1)';

 name | dream
------+-------
 Bill |  8400

Notice the use of the syntax $1.salary to select one field of the argument row value. Also notice how the calling SELECT command uses * to select the entire current row of a table as a composite value. The table row can alternatively be referenced using just the table name, like this:

SELECT name, double_salary(emp) AS dream
    FROM emp
    WHERE emp.cubicle ~= point '(2,1)';

but this usage is deprecated since it's easy to get confused.

Sometimes it is handy to construct a composite argument value on-the-fly. This can be done with the ROW construct. For example, we could adjust the data being passed to the function:

SELECT name, double_salary(ROW(name, salary*1.1, age, cubicle)) AS dream
    FROM emp;

It is also possible to build a function that returns a composite type. This is an example of a function that returns a single emp row:

CREATE FUNCTION new_emp() RETURNS emp AS $$
    SELECT text 'None' AS name,
        1000.0 AS salary,
        25 AS age,
        point '(2,2)' AS cubicle;
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;

In this example we have specified each of the attributes with a constant value, but any computation could have been substituted for these constants.

Note two important things about defining the function:

• The select list order in the query must be exactly the same as that in which the columns appear in the table associated with the composite type. (Naming the columns, as we did above, is irrelevant to the system.)

• You must typecast the expressions to match the definition of the composite type, or you will get errors like this:

  ERROR:  function declared to return emp returns varchar instead of text at column 1
  

A different way to define the same function is:

CREATE FUNCTION new_emp() RETURNS emp AS $$
    SELECT ROW('None', 1000.0, 25, '(2,2)')::emp;
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;

Here we wrote a SELECT that returns just a single column of the correct composite type. This isn't really better in this situation, but it is a handy alternative in some cases — for example, if we need to compute the result by calling another function that returns the desired composite value.

We could call this function directly in either of two ways:

SELECT new_emp();

         new_emp
--------------------------
 (None,1000.0,25,"(2,2)")

SELECT * FROM new_emp();

 name | salary | age | cubicle
------+--------+-----+---------
 None | 1000.0 |  25 | (2,2)

The second way is described more fully in Section 35.4.7.

When you use a function that returns a composite type, you might want only one field (attribute) from its result. You can do that with syntax like this:

SELECT (new_emp()).name;

 name
------
 None

The extra parentheses are needed to keep the parser from getting confused. If you try to do it without them, you get something like this:

SELECT new_emp().name;
ERROR:  syntax error at or near "."
LINE 1: SELECT new_emp().name;
                        ^

Another option is to use functional notation for extracting an attribute. The simple way to explain this is that we can use the notations attribute(table) and table.attribute interchangeably.

SELECT name(new_emp());

 name
------
 None

-- This is the same as:
-- SELECT emp.name AS youngster FROM emp WHERE emp.age < 30;

SELECT name(emp) AS youngster FROM emp WHERE age(emp) < 30;

 youngster
-----------
 Sam
 Andy

Another way to use a function returning a composite type is to pass the result to another function that accepts the correct row type as input:

CREATE FUNCTION getname(emp) RETURNS text AS $$
    SELECT $1.name;
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;

SELECT getname(new_emp());
 getname
---------
 None
(1 row)

Still another way to use a function that returns a composite type is to call it as a table function, as described in Section 35.4.7.

35.4.3. SQL Functions with Parameter Names

It is possible to attach names to a function's parameters, for example

CREATE FUNCTION tf1 (acct_no integer, debit numeric) RETURNS numeric AS $$
    UPDATE bank
        SET balance = balance - $2
        WHERE accountno = $1
    RETURNING balance;
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;

Here the first parameter has been given the name acct_no, and the second parameter the name debit. So far as the SQL function itself is concerned, these names are just decoration; you must still refer to the parameters as $1, $2, etc within the function body. (Some procedural languages let you use the parameter names instead.) However, attaching names to the parameters is useful for documentation purposes. When a function has many parameters, it is also useful to use the names while calling the function, as described in Section 4.3.

35.4.4. SQL Functions with Output Parameters

An alternative way of describing a function's results is to define it with output parameters, as in this example:

CREATE FUNCTION add_em (IN x int, IN y int, OUT sum int)
AS 'SELECT $1 + $2'
LANGUAGE SQL;

SELECT add_em(3,7);
 add_em
--------
     10
(1 row)

This is not essentially different from the version of add_em shown in Section 35.4.1. The real value of output parameters is that they provide a convenient way of defining functions that return several columns. For example,

CREATE FUNCTION sum_n_product (x int, y int, OUT sum int, OUT product int)
AS 'SELECT $1 + $2, $1 * $2'
LANGUAGE SQL;

 SELECT * FROM sum_n_product(11,42);
 sum | product
-----+---------
  53 |     462
(1 row)

What has essentially happened here is that we have created an anonymous composite type for the result of the function. The above example has the same end result as

CREATE TYPE sum_prod AS (sum int, product int);

CREATE FUNCTION sum_n_product (int, int) RETURNS sum_prod
AS 'SELECT $1 + $2, $1 * $2'
LANGUAGE SQL;

but not having to bother with the separate composite type definition is often handy. Notice that the names attached to the output parameters are not just decoration, but determine the column names of the anonymous composite type. (If you omit a name for an output parameter, the system will choose a name on its own.)

Notice that output parameters are not included in the calling argument list when invoking such a function from SQL. This is because PostgreSQL considers only the input parameters to define the function's calling signature. That means also that only the input parameters matter when referencing the function for purposes such as dropping it. We could drop the above function with either of

DROP FUNCTION sum_n_product (x int, y int, OUT sum int, OUT product int);
DROP FUNCTION sum_n_product (int, int);

Parameters can be marked as IN (the default), OUT, INOUT, or VARIADIC. An INOUT parameter serves as both an input parameter (part of the calling argument list) and an output parameter (part of the result record type). VARIADIC parameters are input parameters, but are treated specially as described next.

35.4.5. SQL Functions with Variable Numbers of Arguments

SQL functions can be declared to accept variable numbers of arguments, so long as all the "optional" arguments are of the same data type. The optional arguments will be passed to the function as an array. The function is declared by marking the last parameter as VARIADIC; this parameter must be declared as being of an array type. For example:

CREATE FUNCTION mleast(VARIADIC arr numeric[]) RETURNS numeric AS $$
    SELECT min($1[i]) FROM generate_subscripts($1, 1) g(i);
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;

SELECT mleast(10, -1, 5, 4.4);
 mleast 
--------
     -1
(1 row)

Effectively, all the actual arguments at or beyond the VARIADIC position are gathered up into a one-dimensional array, as if you had written

SELECT mleast(ARRAY[10, -1, 5, 4.4]);    -- doesn't work

You can't actually write that, though — or at least, it will not match this function definition. A parameter marked VARIADIC matches one or more occurrences of its element type, not of its own type.

Sometimes it is useful to be able to pass an already-constructed array to a variadic function; this is particularly handy when one variadic function wants to pass on its array parameter to another one. You can do that by specifying VARIADIC in the call:

SELECT mleast(VARIADIC ARRAY[10, -1, 5, 4.4]);

This prevents expansion of the function's variadic parameter into its element type, thereby allowing the array argument value to match normally. VARIADIC can only be attached to the last actual argument of a function call.

Specifying VARIADIC in the call is also the only way to pass an empty array to a variadic function, for example:

SELECT mleast(VARIADIC ARRAY[]::numeric[]);

Simply writing SELECT mleast() does not work because a variadic parameter must match at least one actual argument. (You could define a second function also named mleast, with no parameters, if you wanted to allow such calls.)

The array element parameters generated from a variadic parameter are treated as not having any names of their own. This means it is not possible to call a variadic function using named arguments (Section 4.3), except when you specify VARIADIC. For example, this will work:

SELECT mleast(VARIADIC arr := ARRAY[10, -1, 5, 4.4]);

but not these:

SELECT mleast(arr := 10);
SELECT mleast(arr := ARRAY[10, -1, 5, 4.4]);

35.4.6. SQL Functions with Default Values for Arguments

Functions can be declared with default values for some or all input arguments. The default values are inserted whenever the function is called with insufficiently many actual arguments. Since arguments can only be omitted from the end of the actual argument list, all parameters after a parameter with a default value have to have default values as well. (Although the use of named argument notation could allow this restriction to be relaxed, it's still enforced so that positional argument notation works sensibly.)

For example:

CREATE FUNCTION foo(a int, b int DEFAULT 2, c int DEFAULT 3)
RETURNS int
LANGUAGE SQL
AS $$
    SELECT $1 + $2 + $3;
$$;

SELECT foo(10, 20, 30);
 foo 
-----
  60
(1 row)

SELECT foo(10, 20);
 foo 
-----
  33
(1 row)

SELECT foo(10);
 foo 
-----
  15
(1 row)

SELECT foo();  -- fails since there is no default for the first argument
ERROR:  function foo() does not exist

The = sign can also be used in place of the key word DEFAULT.

35.4.7. SQL Functions as Table Sources

All SQL functions can be used in the FROM clause of a query, but it is particularly useful for functions returning composite types. If the function is defined to return a base type, the table function produces a one-column table. If the function is defined to return a composite type, the table function produces a column for each attribute of the composite type.

Here is an example:

CREATE TABLE foo (fooid int, foosubid int, fooname text);
INSERT INTO foo VALUES (1, 1, 'Joe');
INSERT INTO foo VALUES (1, 2, 'Ed');
INSERT INTO foo VALUES (2, 1, 'Mary');

CREATE FUNCTION getfoo(int) RETURNS foo AS $$
    SELECT * FROM foo WHERE fooid = $1;
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;

SELECT *, upper(fooname) FROM getfoo(1) AS t1;

 fooid | foosubid | fooname | upper
-------+----------+---------+-------
     1 |        1 | Joe     | JOE
(1 row)

As the example shows, we can work with the columns of the function's result just the same as if they were columns of a regular table.

Note that we only got one row out of the function. This is because we did not use SETOF. That is described in the next section.

35.4.8. SQL Functions Returning Sets

When an SQL function is declared as returning SETOF sometype, the function's final query is executed to completion, and each row it outputs is returned as an element of the result set.

This feature is normally used when calling the function in the FROM clause. In this case each row returned by the function becomes a row of the table seen by the query. For example, assume that table foo has the same contents as above, and we say:

CREATE FUNCTION getfoo(int) RETURNS SETOF foo AS $$
    SELECT * FROM foo WHERE fooid = $1;
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;

SELECT * FROM getfoo(1) AS t1;

Then we would get:

 fooid | foosubid | fooname
-------+----------+---------
     1 |        1 | Joe
     1 |        2 | Ed
(2 rows)

It is also possible to return multiple rows with the columns defined by output parameters, like this:

CREATE TABLE tab (y int, z int);
INSERT INTO tab VALUES (1, 2), (3, 4), (5, 6), (7, 8);

CREATE FUNCTION sum_n_product_with_tab (x int, OUT sum int, OUT product int)
RETURNS SETOF record
AS $$
    SELECT $1 + tab.y, $1 * tab.y FROM tab;
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;

SELECT * FROM sum_n_product_with_tab(10);
 sum | product
-----+---------
  11 |      10
  13 |      30
  15 |      50
  17 |      70
(4 rows)

The key point here is that you must write RETURNS SETOF record to indicate that the function returns multiple rows instead of just one. If there is only one output parameter, write that parameter's type instead of record.

Currently, functions returning sets can also be called in the select list of a query. For each row that the query generates by itself, the function returning set is invoked, and an output row is generated for each element of the function's result set. Note, however, that this capability is deprecated and might be removed in future releases. The following is an example function returning a set from the select list:

CREATE FUNCTION listchildren(text) RETURNS SETOF text AS $$
    SELECT name FROM nodes WHERE parent = $1
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;

SELECT * FROM nodes;
   name    | parent
-----------+--------
 Top       |
 Child1    | Top
 Child2    | Top
 Child3    | Top
 SubChild1 | Child1
 SubChild2 | Child1
(6 rows)

SELECT listchildren('Top');
 listchildren
--------------
 Child1
 Child2
 Child3
(3 rows)

SELECT name, listchildren(name) FROM nodes;
  name  | listchildren
--------+--------------
 Top    | Child1
 Top    | Child2
 Top    | Child3
 Child1 | SubChild1
 Child1 | SubChild2
(5 rows)

In the last SELECT, notice that no output row appears for Child2, Child3, etc. This happens because listchildren returns an empty set for those arguments, so no result rows are generated.

35.4.9. SQL Functions Returning TABLE

There is another way to declare a function as returning a set, which is to use the syntax RETURNS TABLE(columns). This is equivalent to using one or more OUT parameters plus marking the function as returning SETOF record (or SETOF a single output parameter's type, as appropriate). This notation is specified in recent versions of the SQL standard, and thus may be more portable than using SETOF.

For example, the preceding sum-and-product example could also be done this way:

CREATE FUNCTION sum_n_product_with_tab (x int)
RETURNS TABLE(sum int, product int) AS $$
    SELECT $1 + tab.y, $1 * tab.y FROM tab;
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;

It is not allowed to use explicit OUT or INOUT parameters with the RETURNS TABLE notation — you must put all the output columns in the TABLE list.

35.4.10. Polymorphic SQL Functions

SQL functions can be declared to accept and return the polymorphic types anyelement, anyarray, anynonarray, and anyenum. See Section 35.2.5 for a more detailed explanation of polymorphic functions. Here is a polymorphic function make_array that builds up an array from two arbitrary data type elements:

CREATE FUNCTION make_array(anyelement, anyelement) RETURNS anyarray AS $$
    SELECT ARRAY[$1, $2];
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;

SELECT make_array(1, 2) AS intarray, make_array('a'::text, 'b') AS textarray;
 intarray | textarray
----------+-----------
 {1,2}    | {a,b}
(1 row)

Notice the use of the typecast 'a'::text to specify that the argument is of type text. This is required if the argument is just a string literal, since otherwise it would be treated as type unknown, and array of unknown is not a valid type. Without the typecast, you will get errors like this:

ERROR:  could not determine polymorphic type because input has type "unknown"

It is permitted to have polymorphic arguments with a fixed return type, but the converse is not. For example:

CREATE FUNCTION is_greater(anyelement, anyelement) RETURNS boolean AS $$
    SELECT $1 > $2;
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;

SELECT is_greater(1, 2);
 is_greater
------------
 f
(1 row)

CREATE FUNCTION invalid_func() RETURNS anyelement AS $$
    SELECT 1;
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;
ERROR:  cannot determine result data type
DETAIL:  A function returning a polymorphic type must have at least one polymorphic argument.

Polymorphism can be used with functions that have output arguments. For example:

CREATE FUNCTION dup (f1 anyelement, OUT f2 anyelement, OUT f3 anyarray)
AS 'select $1, array[$1,$1]' LANGUAGE SQL;

SELECT * FROM dup(22);
 f2 |   f3
----+---------
 22 | {22,22}
(1 row)

Polymorphism can also be used with variadic functions. For example:

CREATE FUNCTION anyleast (VARIADIC anyarray) RETURNS anyelement AS $$
    SELECT min($1[i]) FROM generate_subscripts($1, 1) g(i);
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;

SELECT anyleast(10, -1, 5, 4);
 anyleast 
----------
       -1
(1 row)

SELECT anyleast('abc'::text, 'def');
 anyleast 
----------
 abc
(1 row)

CREATE FUNCTION concat(text, VARIADIC anyarray) RETURNS text AS $$
    SELECT array_to_string($2, $1);
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;

SELECT concat('|', 1, 4, 2);
 concat 
--------
 1|4|2
(1 row)