Reprise of Oracle decode functionality...now with nifty plperlu (and two cupholders)

I've been lurking on the pgsql-* lists for about a month now and have
decided to quit being a "wall flower".

Looking through the achives, I've noticed a fair number of threads about
Oracle compatibility functions: predominantly for decode(). I've even
seen and (quickly) looked at one implemented in C as an extension.

I've decided to toss my perl hat into the ring.
I use multiple schema to hold my procs:
schema usage
------ -----
pl plperl,plperlu procedures
java pljava,pljavau procedures
sql pgSQL,SQL procedures

Comments? Suggestions? Testimonials?

Enjoy:

(OBLIGATORY BLURB)
Code is presented AS IS, with NO WARRANTY of fitness for purpose. May
cause data loss, hair loss, may contain nuts.

/******************************************************************/

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION pl.decode(selector text, clauses text)
RETURNS text AS
$BODY$

use Safe;

my $vault;

# get / setup a safe "vault" from / in %_SHARED to reduce function
# start up time on a per session level

if ( exists( $_SHARED{pl_vault} ) && defined( $_SHARED{pl_vault} ) ){

$vault = $_SHARED{pl_vault};
#elog( NOTICE , "plperlu: Preloaded safety vault being used." );
}
else {
# setup a safe vault using the same parameters as the SAFE_OK
# macro in postgresql's
# http://developer.postgresql.org/cvsweb.cgi/
# pgsql/src/pl/plperl/plperl.c?rev=1.105

$vault = Safe->new;
$vault->permit_only( qw/ :default
:base_math
!:base_io
time
sort
/ );

$_SHARED{pl_vault} = $vault;
#elog( NOTICE , "plperlu: Setting up session safety vault.");
}

my $selector = $_[0];
my @in_clauses = split( /,,/ , $_[1] );

# reject @in_clauses argument if it doesn't contain an odd number of
# entries: ie -
# ( '>10' , 'return#1' , 'final else' ) or
# ( '>10' , 'return#1' , '<10' , 'return#2' , 'final else' )
# is OK
# ( '>10' , 'return#1' ) is not

die( "pl.decode(): invalid clause argument,"
. " the number of entries was not odd.\n")
unless ( scalar( @in_clauses ) % 2 );

my $final_else = pop @in_clauses;
my $retval = undef;
my $have_match = undef;

ITERATIONS:
while ( @in_clauses ){
my $match_clause = shift @in_clauses;
my $then_clause = shift @in_clauses;
my $result = $vault->reval( $selector . $match_clause );

if ( my $error = $@ ){
# safe reval error...clean up the error message then
# elog() and ignore it, then move on and try the next
# set of match/result clauses...

$error =~ s/ at line.+//;
$error =~ s/trapped.+/deemed unsafe/;
chomp $error;
elog( NOTICE , "pl.decode(): potentially dangerous "
. "operation found, "
. $error
. ", skipping clause..."
);
next ITERATIONS;
}
if ( $result ){
# we have the winner...set $retval and bail out...
# we only grab the first true result...

$retval = $then_clause;
$have_match = "yes";
last ITERATIONS;
}
# no $result? oh well try the next set...
}

if ( defined( $have_match ) ){
# last check to see if we've matched anything...
# and if so return it...accounting for the case where
# the wanted return is NULL...

if ( $retval =~ m/^ (?: null || undef ) \( \) $ /ix ) {
$retval=undef;
}
return $retval;
}

# if we get here we are returning the "default" result value
return $final_else;

$BODY$
LANGUAGE 'plperlu' IMMUTABLE SECURITY DEFINER;
COMMENT ON FUNCTION pl.decode(selector text, clauses text) IS '
#############################################
## decode( selector text , clauses text )
## plperlu rendition of Oracle''s decode() function. Takes 2 args:
## the item to check, and a double comma (,,) separated string
## listing of items to match and items to return if the match is
## successful. The last entry in the string is the final "else"
## return value. The match sections may include boolean
## operations.
##
## USE DOLLAR QUOTING to setup the test/result string, it WILL save
## you much hair pulling.
##
## If you want a return item to be NULL for an option, use one of the
## following (case INSENSITVE) return values:
## null() or
## undef()
##
## provides its own Safe.pm compartment for the reevalution of the
## match clauses
##
#############################################
';