Re: pl/pgSQL variable substitution

Jeremy Palmer <JPalmer(at)linz(dot)govt(dot)nz> writes:
> When I have a query that uses DESC reserved word within the function the following variable substitution occurs:

> ERROR: syntax error at or near "$1"
> LINE 1: SELECT foo.bar, foo."desc" FROM foo."desc" ORDER BY foo."desc" $1
> ^

The other two responses seem to have missed the point, which is that
plpgsql is substituting for something that couldn't possibly be a
variable name. That is fixed as of 9.0. I'm not sure whether it
solves your issue completely, though. In general, using identifiers
that look like reserved words is painful --- and don't forget that
in plpgsql, you have *two* sets of reserved words to worry about,
the core SQL language's plus plpgsql's own.

regards, tom lane