1CREATE PROCEDURE(7) PostgreSQL 15.4 Documentation CREATE PROCEDURE(7)
2
6 CREATE_PROCEDURE - define a new procedure
7
9 CREATE [ OR REPLACE ] PROCEDURE
10 name ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [ { DEFAULT | = } default_expr ] [, ...] ] )
11 { LANGUAGE lang_name
12 | TRANSFORM { FOR TYPE type_name } [, ... ]
13 | [ EXTERNAL ] SECURITY INVOKER | [ EXTERNAL ] SECURITY DEFINER
14 | SET configuration_parameter { TO value | = value | FROM CURRENT }
15 | AS 'definition'
16 | AS 'obj_file', 'link_symbol'
17 | sql_body
18 } ...
19
21 CREATE PROCEDURE defines a new procedure. CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE
22 will either create a new procedure, or replace an existing definition.
23 To be able to define a procedure, the user must have the USAGE
24 privilege on the language.
25 If a schema name is included, then the procedure is created in the
27 specified schema. Otherwise it is created in the current schema. The
28 name of the new procedure must not match any existing procedure or
29 function with the same input argument types in the same schema.
30 However, procedures and functions of different argument types can share
31 a name (this is called overloading).
32 To replace the current definition of an existing procedure, use CREATE
34 OR REPLACE PROCEDURE. It is not possible to change the name or argument
35 types of a procedure this way (if you tried, you would actually be
36 creating a new, distinct procedure).
37 When CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE is used to replace an existing
39 procedure, the ownership and permissions of the procedure do not
40 change. All other procedure properties are assigned the values
41 specified or implied in the command. You must own the procedure to
42 replace it (this includes being a member of the owning role).
43 The user that creates the procedure becomes the owner of the procedure.
45 To be able to create a procedure, you must have USAGE privilege on the
47 argument types.
48 Refer to Section 38.4 for further information on writing procedures.
50
52 name
53 The name (optionally schema-qualified) of the procedure to create.
54 argmode
56 The mode of an argument: IN, OUT, INOUT, or VARIADIC. If omitted,
57 the default is IN.
58 argname
60 The name of an argument.
61 argtype
63 The data type(s) of the procedure's arguments (optionally
64 schema-qualified), if any. The argument types can be base,
65 composite, or domain types, or can reference the type of a table
66 column.
67 Depending on the implementation language it might also be allowed
69 to specify “pseudo-types” such as cstring. Pseudo-types indicate
70 that the actual argument type is either incompletely specified, or
71 outside the set of ordinary SQL data types.
72 The type of a column is referenced by writing
74 table_name.column_name%TYPE. Using this feature can sometimes help
75 make a procedure independent of changes to the definition of a
76 table.
77 default_expr
79 An expression to be used as default value if the parameter is not
80 specified. The expression has to be coercible to the argument type
81 of the parameter. All input parameters following a parameter with a
82 default value must have default values as well.
83 lang_name
85 The name of the language that the procedure is implemented in. It
86 can be sql, c, internal, or the name of a user-defined procedural
87 language, e.g., plpgsql. The default is sql if sql_body is
88 specified. Enclosing the name in single quotes is deprecated and
89 requires matching case.
90 TRANSFORM { FOR TYPE type_name } [, ... ] }
92 Lists which transforms a call to the procedure should apply.
93 Transforms convert between SQL types and language-specific data
94 types; see CREATE TRANSFORM (CREATE_TRANSFORM(7)). Procedural
95 language implementations usually have hardcoded knowledge of the
96 built-in types, so those don't need to be listed here. If a
97 procedural language implementation does not know how to handle a
98 type and no transform is supplied, it will fall back to a default
99 behavior for converting data types, but this depends on the
100 implementation.
101 [EXTERNAL] SECURITY INVOKER
103 [EXTERNAL] SECURITY DEFINER
104 SECURITY INVOKER indicates that the procedure is to be executed
105 with the privileges of the user that calls it. That is the default.
106 SECURITY DEFINER specifies that the procedure is to be executed
107 with the privileges of the user that owns it.
108 The key word EXTERNAL is allowed for SQL conformance, but it is
110 optional since, unlike in SQL, this feature applies to all
111 procedures not only external ones.
112 A SECURITY DEFINER procedure cannot execute transaction control
114 statements (for example, COMMIT and ROLLBACK, depending on the
115 language).
116 configuration_parameter
118 value
119 The SET clause causes the specified configuration parameter to be
120 set to the specified value when the procedure is entered, and then
121 restored to its prior value when the procedure exits. SET FROM
122 CURRENT saves the value of the parameter that is current when
123 CREATE PROCEDURE is executed as the value to be applied when the
124 procedure is entered.
125 If a SET clause is attached to a procedure, then the effects of a
127 SET LOCAL command executed inside the procedure for the same
128 variable are restricted to the procedure: the configuration
129 parameter's prior value is still restored at procedure exit.
130 However, an ordinary SET command (without LOCAL) overrides the SET
131 clause, much as it would do for a previous SET LOCAL command: the
132 effects of such a command will persist after procedure exit, unless
133 the current transaction is rolled back.
134 If a SET clause is attached to a procedure, then that procedure
136 cannot execute transaction control statements (for example, COMMIT
137 and ROLLBACK, depending on the language).
138 See SET(7) and Chapter 20 for more information about allowed
140 parameter names and values.
141 definition
143 A string constant defining the procedure; the meaning depends on
144 the language. It can be an internal procedure name, the path to an
145 object file, an SQL command, or text in a procedural language.
146 It is often helpful to use dollar quoting (see Section 4.1.2.4) to
148 write the procedure definition string, rather than the normal
149 single quote syntax. Without dollar quoting, any single quotes or
150 backslashes in the procedure definition must be escaped by doubling
151 them.
152 obj_file, link_symbol
154 This form of the AS clause is used for dynamically loadable C
155 language procedures when the procedure name in the C language
156 source code is not the same as the name of the SQL procedure. The
157 string obj_file is the name of the shared library file containing
158 the compiled C procedure, and is interpreted as for the LOAD
159 command. The string link_symbol is the procedure's link symbol,
160 that is, the name of the procedure in the C language source code.
161 If the link symbol is omitted, it is assumed to be the same as the
162 name of the SQL procedure being defined.
163 When repeated CREATE PROCEDURE calls refer to the same object file,
165 the file is only loaded once per session. To unload and reload the
166 file (perhaps during development), start a new session.
167 sql_body
169 The body of a LANGUAGE SQL procedure. This should be a block
170 BEGIN ATOMIC
172 statement;
173 statement;
174 ...
175 statement;
176 END
177 This is similar to writing the text of the procedure body as a
179 string constant (see definition above), but there are some
180 differences: This form only works for LANGUAGE SQL, the string
181 constant form works for all languages. This form is parsed at
182 procedure definition time, the string constant form is parsed at
183 execution time; therefore this form cannot support polymorphic
184 argument types and other constructs that are not resolvable at
185 procedure definition time. This form tracks dependencies between
186 the procedure and objects used in the procedure body, so DROP ...
187 CASCADE will work correctly, whereas the form using string literals
188 may leave dangling procedures. Finally, this form is more
189 compatible with the SQL standard and other SQL implementations.
190
192 See CREATE FUNCTION (CREATE_FUNCTION(7)) for more details on function
193 creation that also apply to procedures.
194 Use CALL(7) to execute a procedure.
196
198 CREATE PROCEDURE insert_data(a integer, b integer)
199 LANGUAGE SQL
200 AS $$
201 INSERT INTO tbl VALUES (a);
202 INSERT INTO tbl VALUES (b);
203 $$;
204 or
206 CREATE PROCEDURE insert_data(a integer, b integer)
208 LANGUAGE SQL
209 BEGIN ATOMIC
210 INSERT INTO tbl VALUES (a);
211 INSERT INTO tbl VALUES (b);
212 END;
213 and call like this:
215 CALL insert_data(1, 2);
217
219 A CREATE PROCEDURE command is defined in the SQL standard. The
220 PostgreSQL implementation can be used in a compatible way but has many
221 extensions. For details see also CREATE FUNCTION (CREATE_FUNCTION(7)).
222
224 ALTER PROCEDURE (ALTER_PROCEDURE(7)), DROP PROCEDURE
225 (DROP_PROCEDURE(7)), CALL(7), CREATE FUNCTION (CREATE_FUNCTION(7))
226PostgreSQL 15.4 2023 CREATE PROCEDURE(7)