Re: BUG #1956: Plpgsql top-level DECLARE does not share scope

"Jim C. Nasby" <jnasby(at)pervasive(dot)com> writes:
> On Thu, Oct 13, 2005 at 01:30:56PM -0400, Tom Lane wrote:
>> Basically, DECLARE introduces a new name scope that wouldn't be there
>> if you didn't say DECLARE. Without some bizarre reinterpretation of the
>> meaning of a DECLARE at the start of a function, variables automatically
>> created by plpgsql are going to be in an outer scope surrounding that of
>> the first DECLARE.

> Another possibility is tracking what level sub-block something is in,
> and using that to determine if the top-most declare in a function is
> over-writing something.

BTW, another issue here is that if we did merge the first DECLARE with
the scope of auto-declared variables, it would be a non backwards
compatible change. Right now you can do, say,

declare found int;

and it'll override the standard FOUND variable. If we change this then
you'd get an error. (Of course, it could be argued that that would be
a Good Thing. But it would inhibit us from adding new auto-declared
variables that are less central to the language than FOUND, because of
the risk of breaking existing code.)

regards, tom lane