# Create a Function

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Published 2022-12-03

This tutorial explains to you how to create a function in PostgreSQL. We use pgAdmin4 and a PostgreSQL 9.6.

In PostgreSQL, both stored procedures and user-defined functions are created with CREATE FUNCTION statement. There are differences between the notion of stored procedures and functions in database systems:

	Stored Procedure	Stored Function
Use in an expression	NO	Yes
Return a single result set	Yes	Yes
Return values as OUT parameters	Yes	NO
Return multiple result sets	Yes	NO
Return a value	NO	Yes

Functions can be created in language of your choice like SQL, PL/pgSQL, C

Query Language (SQL) Functions

SQL functions execute an arbitrary list of SQL statements, returning the result of the last query in the list. In the simple (non-set) case, the first row of the last query's result will be returned. If the last query happens to return no rows at all, the null value will be returned.

Alternatively, an SQL function can be declared to return a set (that is, multiple rows) by specifying the function's return type as SETOF sometype, or equivalently by declaring it as RETURNS TABLE(columns). In this case all rows of the last query's result are returned. Further details appear below. The body of an SQL function must be a list of SQL statements separated by semicolons. A semicolon after the last statement is optional. Unless the function is declared to return void, the last statement must be a SELECT, or an INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE that has a RETURNING clause.

Here are some SQL functions in PostgreSQL:

CREATE FUNCTION tf1 (accountno integer, debit numeric) RETURNS integer AS $$
    UPDATE bank
        SET balance = balance - debit
        WHERE accountno = tf1.accountno;
    SELECT 1;
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;

CREATE FUNCTION tf1 (accountno integer, debit numeric) RETURNS integer AS $$
    UPDATE bank
        SET balance = balance - debit
        WHERE accountno = tf1.accountno
    RETURNING balance;
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;

Procedural Language PostGreSQL (plpgsql) Functions are closer to the Oracle Procedures

Here are some example:

Oracle function:

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION cs_fmt_browser_version(v_name varchar2,
                                                  v_version varchar2)
RETURN varchar2 IS
BEGIN
    IF v_version IS NULL THEN
        RETURN v_name;
    END IF;
    RETURN v_name || '/' || v_version;
END;
/

PostgreSQL function:

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION cs_fmt_browser_version(v_name varchar,
                                                  v_version varchar)
RETURNS varchar AS $$
BEGIN
    IF v_version IS NULL THEN
        RETURN v_name;
    END IF;
    RETURN v_name || '/' || v_version;
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;

These examples were taken from here.