Procedural Languages

Procedural Languages Overview

• PostgreSQL allows user-defined functions to be written in a variety of procedural languages. 
• The database server has no built-in knowledge about how to interpret the function's source text. 
• Instead, the task is passed to a handler that knows the details of that particular language.
• PostgreSQL currently supports several standard procedural languages :
• PL/pgSQL
• PL/Tcl
• PL/Perl
• PL/Python
• PL/Java
• PL/Ruby
• Other languages can be defined by users

• PL/pgSQL is a loadable procedural language for the PostgreSQL database system.
• PL/pgSQL has several distinct features :
• Can be used to create functions and trigger procedures,
• Adds control structures to the SQL language,
• Can perform complex computations,
• Inherits all user-defined types, functions, and operators,
• Can be defined to be trusted by the server,
• Is easy to use.