anal about my syntax

Hello All

I was looking at this plpgsql function:

FOR rec IN EXECUTE
''select count(person_id) as total from person where person_email like '''''' || $1 || ''%'''' and person_id IN
(
select cp.person_id from cluster_person cp, cluster c where cp.cluster_id = c.cluster_id and c.c_id = '' || $2 || ''group by cp.person_id
) ''
LOOP
tot = rec.total;
END LOOP;

It works fine - I was just wondering if you can:
1. execute this sql without a loop being used as its not required.
2. could this be a straight SQL function instead( I dont think you can append strings together in SQL functions )