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+<!-- doc/src/sgml/plperl.sgml -->
+
+ <chapter id="plperl">
+ <title>PL/Perl &mdash; Perl Procedural Language</title>
+
+ <indexterm zone="plperl">
+ <primary>PL/Perl</primary>
+ </indexterm>
+
+ <indexterm zone="plperl">
+ <primary>Perl</primary>
+ </indexterm>
+
+ <para>
+ PL/Perl is a loadable procedural language that enables you to write
+ <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> functions and procedures in the
+ <ulink url="https://www.perl.org">Perl programming language</ulink>.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ The main advantage to using PL/Perl is that this allows use,
+ within stored functions and procedures, of the manyfold <quote>string
+ munging</quote> operators and functions available for Perl. Parsing
+ complex strings might be easier using Perl than it is with the
+ string functions and control structures provided in PL/pgSQL.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ To install PL/Perl in a particular database, use
+ <literal>CREATE EXTENSION plperl</literal>.
+ </para>
+
+ <tip>
+ <para>
+ If a language is installed into <literal>template1</literal>, all subsequently
+ created databases will have the language installed automatically.
+ </para>
+ </tip>
+
+ <note>
+ <para>
+ Users of source packages must specially enable the build of
+ PL/Perl during the installation process. (Refer to <xref
+ linkend="installation"/> for more information.) Users of
+ binary packages might find PL/Perl in a separate subpackage.
+ </para>
+ </note>
+
+ <sect1 id="plperl-funcs">
+ <title>PL/Perl Functions and Arguments</title>
+
+ <para>
+ To create a function in the PL/Perl language, use the standard
+ <xref linkend="sql-createfunction"/>
+ syntax:
+
+<programlisting>
+CREATE FUNCTION <replaceable>funcname</replaceable> (<replaceable>argument-types</replaceable>)
+RETURNS <replaceable>return-type</replaceable>
+-- function attributes can go here
+AS $$
+ # PL/Perl function body goes here
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+</programlisting>
+
+ The body of the function is ordinary Perl code. In fact, the PL/Perl
+ glue code wraps it inside a Perl subroutine. A PL/Perl function is
+ called in a scalar context, so it can't return a list. You can return
+ non-scalar values (arrays, records, and sets) by returning a reference,
+ as discussed below.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ In a PL/Perl procedure, any return value from the Perl code is ignored.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ PL/Perl also supports anonymous code blocks called with the
+ <xref linkend="sql-do"/> statement:
+
+<programlisting>
+DO $$
+ # PL/Perl code
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+</programlisting>
+
+ An anonymous code block receives no arguments, and whatever value it
+ might return is discarded. Otherwise it behaves just like a function.
+ </para>
+
+ <note>
+ <para>
+ The use of named nested subroutines is dangerous in Perl, especially if
+ they refer to lexical variables in the enclosing scope. Because a PL/Perl
+ function is wrapped in a subroutine, any named subroutine you place inside
+ one will be nested. In general, it is far safer to create anonymous
+ subroutines which you call via a coderef. For more information, see the
+ entries for <literal>Variable "%s" will not stay shared</literal> and
+ <literal>Variable "%s" is not available</literal> in the
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>perldiag</refentrytitle></citerefentry> man page, or
+ search the Internet for <quote>perl nested named subroutine</quote>.
+ </para>
+ </note>
+
+ <para>
+ The syntax of the <command>CREATE FUNCTION</command> command requires
+ the function body to be written as a string constant. It is usually
+ most convenient to use dollar quoting (see <xref
+ linkend="sql-syntax-dollar-quoting"/>) for the string constant.
+ If you choose to use escape string syntax <literal>E''</literal>,
+ you must double any single quote marks (<literal>'</literal>) and backslashes
+ (<literal>\</literal>) used in the body of the function
+ (see <xref linkend="sql-syntax-strings"/>).
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Arguments and results are handled as in any other Perl subroutine:
+ arguments are passed in <varname>@_</varname>, and a result value
+ is returned with <literal>return</literal> or as the last expression
+ evaluated in the function.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ For example, a function returning the greater of two integer values
+ could be defined as:
+
+<programlisting>
+CREATE FUNCTION perl_max (integer, integer) RETURNS integer AS $$
+ if ($_[0] &gt; $_[1]) { return $_[0]; }
+ return $_[1];
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+
+ <note>
+ <para>
+ Arguments will be converted from the database's encoding to UTF-8
+ for use inside PL/Perl, and then converted from UTF-8 back to the
+ database encoding upon return.
+ </para>
+ </note>
+
+ <para>
+ If an SQL null value<indexterm><primary>null value</primary><secondary
+ sortas="PL/Perl">in PL/Perl</secondary></indexterm> is passed to a function,
+ the argument value will appear as <quote>undefined</quote> in Perl. The
+ above function definition will not behave very nicely with null
+ inputs (in fact, it will act as though they are zeroes). We could
+ add <literal>STRICT</literal> to the function definition to make
+ <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> do something more reasonable:
+ if a null value is passed, the function will not be called at all,
+ but will just return a null result automatically. Alternatively,
+ we could check for undefined inputs in the function body. For
+ example, suppose that we wanted <function>perl_max</function> with
+ one null and one nonnull argument to return the nonnull argument,
+ rather than a null value:
+
+<programlisting>
+CREATE FUNCTION perl_max (integer, integer) RETURNS integer AS $$
+ my ($x, $y) = @_;
+ if (not defined $x) {
+ return undef if not defined $y;
+ return $y;
+ }
+ return $x if not defined $y;
+ return $x if $x &gt; $y;
+ return $y;
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+</programlisting>
+ As shown above, to return an SQL null value from a PL/Perl
+ function, return an undefined value. This can be done whether the
+ function is strict or not.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Anything in a function argument that is not a reference is
+ a string, which is in the standard <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
+ external text representation for the relevant data type. In the case of
+ ordinary numeric or text types, Perl will just do the right thing and
+ the programmer will normally not have to worry about it. However, in
+ other cases the argument will need to be converted into a form that is
+ more usable in Perl. For example, the <function>decode_bytea</function>
+ function can be used to convert an argument of
+ type <type>bytea</type> into unescaped binary.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Similarly, values passed back to <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
+ must be in the external text representation format. For example, the
+ <function>encode_bytea</function> function can be used to
+ escape binary data for a return value of type <type>bytea</type>.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ One case that is particularly important is boolean values. As just
+ stated, the default behavior for <type>bool</type> values is that they
+ are passed to Perl as text, thus either <literal>'t'</literal>
+ or <literal>'f'</literal>. This is problematic, since Perl will not
+ treat <literal>'f'</literal> as false! It is possible to improve matters
+ by using a <quote>transform</quote> (see
+ <xref linkend="sql-createtransform"/>). Suitable transforms are provided
+ by the <filename>bool_plperl</filename> extension. To use it, install
+ the extension:
+<programlisting>
+CREATE EXTENSION bool_plperl; -- or bool_plperlu for PL/PerlU
+</programlisting>
+ Then use the <literal>TRANSFORM</literal> function attribute for a
+ PL/Perl function that takes or returns <type>bool</type>, for example:
+<programlisting>
+CREATE FUNCTION perl_and(bool, bool) RETURNS bool
+TRANSFORM FOR TYPE bool
+AS $$
+ my ($a, $b) = @_;
+ return $a &amp;&amp; $b;
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+</programlisting>
+ When this transform is applied, <type>bool</type> arguments will be seen
+ by Perl as being <literal>1</literal> or empty, thus properly true or
+ false. If the function result is type <type>bool</type>, it will be true
+ or false according to whether Perl would evaluate the returned value as
+ true.
+ Similar transformations are also performed for boolean query arguments
+ and results of SPI queries performed inside the function
+ (<xref linkend="plperl-database"/>).
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Perl can return <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> arrays as
+ references to Perl arrays. Here is an example:
+
+<programlisting>
+CREATE OR REPLACE function returns_array()
+RETURNS text[][] AS $$
+ return [['a&quot;b','c,d'],['e\\f','g']];
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+
+select returns_array();
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Perl passes <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> arrays as a blessed
+ <type>PostgreSQL::InServer::ARRAY</type> object. This object may be treated as an array
+ reference or a string, allowing for backward compatibility with Perl
+ code written for <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> versions below 9.1 to
+ run. For example:
+
+<programlisting>
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION concat_array_elements(text[]) RETURNS TEXT AS $$
+ my $arg = shift;
+ my $result = "";
+ return undef if (!defined $arg);
+
+ # as an array reference
+ for (@$arg) {
+ $result .= $_;
+ }
+
+ # also works as a string
+ $result .= $arg;
+
+ return $result;
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+
+SELECT concat_array_elements(ARRAY['PL','/','Perl']);
+</programlisting>
+
+ <note>
+ <para>
+ Multidimensional arrays are represented as references to
+ lower-dimensional arrays of references in a way common to every Perl
+ programmer.
+ </para>
+ </note>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Composite-type arguments are passed to the function as references
+ to hashes. The keys of the hash are the attribute names of the
+ composite type. Here is an example:
+
+<programlisting>
+CREATE TABLE employee (
+ name text,
+ basesalary integer,
+ bonus integer
+);
+
+CREATE FUNCTION empcomp(employee) RETURNS integer AS $$
+ my ($emp) = @_;
+ return $emp-&gt;{basesalary} + $emp-&gt;{bonus};
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+
+SELECT name, empcomp(employee.*) FROM employee;
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ A PL/Perl function can return a composite-type result using the same
+ approach: return a reference to a hash that has the required attributes.
+ For example:
+
+<programlisting>
+CREATE TYPE testrowperl AS (f1 integer, f2 text, f3 text);
+
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION perl_row() RETURNS testrowperl AS $$
+ return {f2 =&gt; 'hello', f1 =&gt; 1, f3 =&gt; 'world'};
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+
+SELECT * FROM perl_row();
+</programlisting>
+
+ Any columns in the declared result data type that are not present in the
+ hash will be returned as null values.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Similarly, output arguments of procedures can be returned as a hash
+ reference:
+
+<programlisting>
+CREATE PROCEDURE perl_triple(INOUT a integer, INOUT b integer) AS $$
+ my ($a, $b) = @_;
+ return {a =&gt; $a * 3, b =&gt; $b * 3};
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+
+CALL perl_triple(5, 10);
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ PL/Perl functions can also return sets of either scalar or
+ composite types. Usually you'll want to return rows one at a
+ time, both to speed up startup time and to keep from queuing up
+ the entire result set in memory. You can do this with
+ <function>return_next</function> as illustrated below. Note that
+ after the last <function>return_next</function>, you must put
+ either <literal>return</literal> or (better) <literal>return
+ undef</literal>.
+
+<programlisting>
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION perl_set_int(int)
+RETURNS SETOF INTEGER AS $$
+ foreach (0..$_[0]) {
+ return_next($_);
+ }
+ return undef;
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+
+SELECT * FROM perl_set_int(5);
+
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION perl_set()
+RETURNS SETOF testrowperl AS $$
+ return_next({ f1 =&gt; 1, f2 =&gt; 'Hello', f3 =&gt; 'World' });
+ return_next({ f1 =&gt; 2, f2 =&gt; 'Hello', f3 =&gt; 'PostgreSQL' });
+ return_next({ f1 =&gt; 3, f2 =&gt; 'Hello', f3 =&gt; 'PL/Perl' });
+ return undef;
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+</programlisting>
+
+ For small result sets, you can return a reference to an array that
+ contains either scalars, references to arrays, or references to
+ hashes for simple types, array types, and composite types,
+ respectively. Here are some simple examples of returning the entire
+ result set as an array reference:
+
+<programlisting>
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION perl_set_int(int) RETURNS SETOF INTEGER AS $$
+ return [0..$_[0]];
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+
+SELECT * FROM perl_set_int(5);
+
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION perl_set() RETURNS SETOF testrowperl AS $$
+ return [
+ { f1 =&gt; 1, f2 =&gt; 'Hello', f3 =&gt; 'World' },
+ { f1 =&gt; 2, f2 =&gt; 'Hello', f3 =&gt; 'PostgreSQL' },
+ { f1 =&gt; 3, f2 =&gt; 'Hello', f3 =&gt; 'PL/Perl' }
+ ];
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+
+SELECT * FROM perl_set();
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ If you wish to use the <literal>strict</literal> pragma with your code you
+ have a few options. For temporary global use you can <command>SET</command>
+ <literal>plperl.use_strict</literal> to true.
+ This will affect subsequent compilations of <application>PL/Perl</application>
+ functions, but not functions already compiled in the current session.
+ For permanent global use you can set <literal>plperl.use_strict</literal>
+ to true in the <filename>postgresql.conf</filename> file.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ For permanent use in specific functions you can simply put:
+<programlisting>
+use strict;
+</programlisting>
+ at the top of the function body.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ The <literal>feature</literal> pragma is also available to <function>use</function> if your Perl is version 5.10.0 or higher.
+ </para>
+
+ </sect1>
+
+ <sect1 id="plperl-data">
+ <title>Data Values in PL/Perl</title>
+
+ <para>
+ The argument values supplied to a PL/Perl function's code are
+ simply the input arguments converted to text form (just as if they
+ had been displayed by a <command>SELECT</command> statement).
+ Conversely, the <function>return</function> and <function>return_next</function>
+ commands will accept any string that is acceptable input format
+ for the function's declared return type.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ If this behavior is inconvenient for a particular case, it can be
+ improved by using a transform, as already illustrated
+ for <type>bool</type> values. Several examples of transform modules
+ are included in the <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> distribution.
+ </para>
+ </sect1>
+
+ <sect1 id="plperl-builtins">
+ <title>Built-in Functions</title>
+
+ <sect2 id="plperl-database">
+ <title>Database Access from PL/Perl</title>
+
+ <para>
+ Access to the database itself from your Perl function can be done
+ via the following functions:
+ </para>
+
+ <variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>
+ <literal><function>spi_exec_query</function>(<replaceable>query</replaceable> [, <replaceable>limit</replaceable>])</literal>
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary>spi_exec_query</primary>
+ <secondary>in PL/Perl</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <function>spi_exec_query</function> executes an SQL command and
+returns the entire row set as a reference to an array of hash references.
+If <replaceable>limit</replaceable> is specified and is greater than zero,
+then <function>spi_exec_query</function> retrieves at
+most <replaceable>limit</replaceable> rows, much as if the query included
+a <literal>LIMIT</literal> clause. Omitting <replaceable>limit</replaceable>
+or specifying it as zero results in no row limit.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+<emphasis>You should only use this command when you know
+that the result set will be relatively small.</emphasis> Here is an
+example of a query (<command>SELECT</command> command) with the
+optional maximum number of rows:
+
+<programlisting>
+$rv = spi_exec_query('SELECT * FROM my_table', 5);
+</programlisting>
+ This returns up to 5 rows from the table
+ <literal>my_table</literal>. If <literal>my_table</literal>
+ has a column <literal>my_column</literal>, you can get that
+ value from row <literal>$i</literal> of the result like this:
+<programlisting>
+$foo = $rv-&gt;{rows}[$i]-&gt;{my_column};
+</programlisting>
+ The total number of rows returned from a <command>SELECT</command>
+ query can be accessed like this:
+<programlisting>
+$nrows = $rv-&gt;{processed}
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Here is an example using a different command type:
+<programlisting>
+$query = "INSERT INTO my_table VALUES (1, 'test')";
+$rv = spi_exec_query($query);
+</programlisting>
+ You can then access the command status (e.g.,
+ <literal>SPI_OK_INSERT</literal>) like this:
+<programlisting>
+$res = $rv-&gt;{status};
+</programlisting>
+ To get the number of rows affected, do:
+<programlisting>
+$nrows = $rv-&gt;{processed};
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Here is a complete example:
+<programlisting>
+CREATE TABLE test (
+ i int,
+ v varchar
+);
+
+INSERT INTO test (i, v) VALUES (1, 'first line');
+INSERT INTO test (i, v) VALUES (2, 'second line');
+INSERT INTO test (i, v) VALUES (3, 'third line');
+INSERT INTO test (i, v) VALUES (4, 'immortal');
+
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION test_munge() RETURNS SETOF test AS $$
+ my $rv = spi_exec_query('select i, v from test;');
+ my $status = $rv-&gt;{status};
+ my $nrows = $rv-&gt;{processed};
+ foreach my $rn (0 .. $nrows - 1) {
+ my $row = $rv-&gt;{rows}[$rn];
+ $row-&gt;{i} += 200 if defined($row-&gt;{i});
+ $row-&gt;{v} =~ tr/A-Za-z/a-zA-Z/ if (defined($row-&gt;{v}));
+ return_next($row);
+ }
+ return undef;
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+
+SELECT * FROM test_munge();
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>
+ <literal><function>spi_query(<replaceable>command</replaceable>)</function></literal>
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary>spi_query</primary>
+ <secondary>in PL/Perl</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <term>
+ <literal><function>spi_fetchrow(<replaceable>cursor</replaceable>)</function></literal>
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary>spi_fetchrow</primary>
+ <secondary>in PL/Perl</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <term>
+ <literal><function>spi_cursor_close(<replaceable>cursor</replaceable>)</function></literal>
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary>spi_cursor_close</primary>
+ <secondary>in PL/Perl</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal>spi_query</literal> and <literal>spi_fetchrow</literal>
+ work together as a pair for row sets which might be large, or for cases
+ where you wish to return rows as they arrive.
+ <literal>spi_fetchrow</literal> works <emphasis>only</emphasis> with
+ <literal>spi_query</literal>. The following example illustrates how
+ you use them together:
+
+<programlisting>
+CREATE TYPE foo_type AS (the_num INTEGER, the_text TEXT);
+
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION lotsa_md5 (INTEGER) RETURNS SETOF foo_type AS $$
+ use Digest::MD5 qw(md5_hex);
+ my $file = '/usr/share/dict/words';
+ my $t = localtime;
+ elog(NOTICE, "opening file $file at $t" );
+ open my $fh, '&lt;', $file # ooh, it's a file access!
+ or elog(ERROR, "cannot open $file for reading: $!");
+ my @words = &lt;$fh&gt;;
+ close $fh;
+ $t = localtime;
+ elog(NOTICE, "closed file $file at $t");
+ chomp(@words);
+ my $row;
+ my $sth = spi_query("SELECT * FROM generate_series(1,$_[0]) AS b(a)");
+ while (defined ($row = spi_fetchrow($sth))) {
+ return_next({
+ the_num =&gt; $row-&gt;{a},
+ the_text =&gt; md5_hex($words[rand @words])
+ });
+ }
+ return;
+$$ LANGUAGE plperlu;
+
+SELECT * from lotsa_md5(500);
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Normally, <function>spi_fetchrow</function> should be repeated until it
+ returns <literal>undef</literal>, indicating that there are no more
+ rows to read. The cursor returned by <literal>spi_query</literal>
+ is automatically freed when
+ <function>spi_fetchrow</function> returns <literal>undef</literal>.
+ If you do not wish to read all the rows, instead call
+ <function>spi_cursor_close</function> to free the cursor.
+ Failure to do so will result in memory leaks.
+ </para>
+
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>
+ <literal><function>spi_prepare(<replaceable>command</replaceable>, <replaceable>argument types</replaceable>)</function></literal>
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary>spi_prepare</primary>
+ <secondary>in PL/Perl</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <term>
+ <literal><function>spi_query_prepared(<replaceable>plan</replaceable>, <replaceable>arguments</replaceable>)</function></literal>
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary>spi_query_prepared</primary>
+ <secondary>in PL/Perl</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <term>
+ <literal><function>spi_exec_prepared(<replaceable>plan</replaceable> [, <replaceable>attributes</replaceable>], <replaceable>arguments</replaceable>)</function></literal>
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary>spi_exec_prepared</primary>
+ <secondary>in PL/Perl</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <term>
+ <literal><function>spi_freeplan(<replaceable>plan</replaceable>)</function></literal>
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary>spi_freeplan</primary>
+ <secondary>in PL/Perl</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal>spi_prepare</literal>, <literal>spi_query_prepared</literal>, <literal>spi_exec_prepared</literal>,
+ and <literal>spi_freeplan</literal> implement the same functionality but for prepared queries.
+ <literal>spi_prepare</literal> accepts a query string with numbered argument placeholders ($1, $2, etc.)
+ and a string list of argument types:
+<programlisting>
+$plan = spi_prepare('SELECT * FROM test WHERE id &gt; $1 AND name = $2',
+ 'INTEGER', 'TEXT');
+</programlisting>
+ Once a query plan is prepared by a call to <literal>spi_prepare</literal>, the plan can be used instead
+ of the string query, either in <literal>spi_exec_prepared</literal>, where the result is the same as returned
+ by <literal>spi_exec_query</literal>, or in <literal>spi_query_prepared</literal> which returns a cursor
+ exactly as <literal>spi_query</literal> does, which can be later passed to <literal>spi_fetchrow</literal>.
+ The optional second parameter to <literal>spi_exec_prepared</literal> is a hash reference of attributes;
+ the only attribute currently supported is <literal>limit</literal>, which
+ sets the maximum number of rows returned from the query.
+ Omitting <literal>limit</literal> or specifying it as zero results in no
+ row limit.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ The advantage of prepared queries is that is it possible to use one prepared plan for more
+ than one query execution. After the plan is not needed anymore, it can be freed with
+ <literal>spi_freeplan</literal>:
+<programlisting>
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION init() RETURNS VOID AS $$
+ $_SHARED{my_plan} = spi_prepare('SELECT (now() + $1)::date AS now',
+ 'INTERVAL');
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION add_time( INTERVAL ) RETURNS TEXT AS $$
+ return spi_exec_prepared(
+ $_SHARED{my_plan},
+ $_[0]
+ )->{rows}->[0]->{now};
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION done() RETURNS VOID AS $$
+ spi_freeplan( $_SHARED{my_plan});
+ undef $_SHARED{my_plan};
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+
+SELECT init();
+SELECT add_time('1 day'), add_time('2 days'), add_time('3 days');
+SELECT done();
+
+ add_time | add_time | add_time
+------------+------------+------------
+ 2005-12-10 | 2005-12-11 | 2005-12-12
+</programlisting>
+ Note that the parameter subscript in <literal>spi_prepare</literal> is defined via
+ $1, $2, $3, etc., so avoid declaring query strings in double quotes that might easily
+ lead to hard-to-catch bugs.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Another example illustrates usage of an optional parameter in <literal>spi_exec_prepared</literal>:
+<programlisting>
+CREATE TABLE hosts AS SELECT id, ('192.168.1.'||id)::inet AS address
+ FROM generate_series(1,3) AS id;
+
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION init_hosts_query() RETURNS VOID AS $$
+ $_SHARED{plan} = spi_prepare('SELECT * FROM hosts
+ WHERE address &lt;&lt; $1', 'inet');
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION query_hosts(inet) RETURNS SETOF hosts AS $$
+ return spi_exec_prepared(
+ $_SHARED{plan},
+ {limit =&gt; 2},
+ $_[0]
+ )->{rows};
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION release_hosts_query() RETURNS VOID AS $$
+ spi_freeplan($_SHARED{plan});
+ undef $_SHARED{plan};
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+
+SELECT init_hosts_query();
+SELECT query_hosts('192.168.1.0/30');
+SELECT release_hosts_query();
+
+ query_hosts
+-----------------
+ (1,192.168.1.1)
+ (2,192.168.1.2)
+(2 rows)
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>
+ <literal><function>spi_commit()</function></literal>
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary>spi_commit</primary>
+ <secondary>in PL/Perl</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <term>
+ <literal><function>spi_rollback()</function></literal>
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary>spi_rollback</primary>
+ <secondary>in PL/Perl</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Commit or roll back the current transaction. This can only be called
+ in a procedure or anonymous code block (<command>DO</command> command)
+ called from the top level. (Note that it is not possible to run the
+ SQL commands <command>COMMIT</command> or <command>ROLLBACK</command>
+ via <function>spi_exec_query</function> or similar. It has to be done
+ using these functions.) After a transaction is ended, a new
+ transaction is automatically started, so there is no separate function
+ for that.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Here is an example:
+<programlisting>
+CREATE PROCEDURE transaction_test1()
+LANGUAGE plperl
+AS $$
+foreach my $i (0..9) {
+ spi_exec_query("INSERT INTO test1 (a) VALUES ($i)");
+ if ($i % 2 == 0) {
+ spi_commit();
+ } else {
+ spi_rollback();
+ }
+}
+$$;
+
+CALL transaction_test1();
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ </variablelist>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2 id="plperl-utility-functions">
+ <title>Utility Functions in PL/Perl</title>
+
+ <variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>
+ <literal><function>elog(<replaceable>level</replaceable>, <replaceable>msg</replaceable>)</function></literal>
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary>elog</primary>
+ <secondary>in PL/Perl</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Emit a log or error message. Possible levels are
+ <literal>DEBUG</literal>, <literal>LOG</literal>, <literal>INFO</literal>,
+ <literal>NOTICE</literal>, <literal>WARNING</literal>, and <literal>ERROR</literal>.
+ <literal>ERROR</literal>
+ raises an error condition; if this is not trapped by the surrounding
+ Perl code, the error propagates out to the calling query, causing
+ the current transaction or subtransaction to be aborted. This
+ is effectively the same as the Perl <literal>die</literal> command.
+ The other levels only generate messages of different
+ priority levels.
+ Whether messages of a particular priority are reported to the client,
+ written to the server log, or both is controlled by the
+ <xref linkend="guc-log-min-messages"/> and
+ <xref linkend="guc-client-min-messages"/> configuration
+ variables. See <xref linkend="runtime-config"/> for more
+ information.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>
+ <literal><function>quote_literal(<replaceable>string</replaceable>)</function></literal>
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary>quote_literal</primary>
+ <secondary>in PL/Perl</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Return the given string suitably quoted to be used as a string literal in an SQL
+ statement string. Embedded single-quotes and backslashes are properly doubled.
+ Note that <function>quote_literal</function> returns undef on undef input; if the argument
+ might be undef, <function>quote_nullable</function> is often more suitable.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>
+ <literal><function>quote_nullable(<replaceable>string</replaceable>)</function></literal>
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary>quote_nullable</primary>
+ <secondary>in PL/Perl</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Return the given string suitably quoted to be used as a string literal in an SQL
+ statement string; or, if the argument is undef, return the unquoted string "NULL".
+ Embedded single-quotes and backslashes are properly doubled.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>
+ <literal><function>quote_ident(<replaceable>string</replaceable>)</function></literal>
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary>quote_ident</primary>
+ <secondary>in PL/Perl</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Return the given string suitably quoted to be used as an identifier in
+ an SQL statement string. Quotes are added only if necessary (i.e., if
+ the string contains non-identifier characters or would be case-folded).
+ Embedded quotes are properly doubled.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>
+ <literal><function>decode_bytea(<replaceable>string</replaceable>)</function></literal>
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary>decode_bytea</primary>
+ <secondary>in PL/Perl</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Return the unescaped binary data represented by the contents of the given string,
+ which should be <type>bytea</type> encoded.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>
+ <literal><function>encode_bytea(<replaceable>string</replaceable>)</function></literal>
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary>encode_bytea</primary>
+ <secondary>in PL/Perl</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Return the <type>bytea</type> encoded form of the binary data contents of the given string.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>
+ <literal><function>encode_array_literal(<replaceable>array</replaceable>)</function></literal>
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary>encode_array_literal</primary>
+ <secondary>in PL/Perl</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <term>
+ <literal><function>encode_array_literal(<replaceable>array</replaceable>, <replaceable>delimiter</replaceable>)</function></literal>
+ </term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Returns the contents of the referenced array as a string in array literal format
+ (see <xref linkend="arrays-input"/>).
+ Returns the argument value unaltered if it's not a reference to an array.
+ The delimiter used between elements of the array literal defaults to "<literal>, </literal>"
+ if a delimiter is not specified or is undef.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>
+ <literal><function>encode_typed_literal(<replaceable>value</replaceable>, <replaceable>typename</replaceable>)</function></literal>
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary>encode_typed_literal</primary>
+ <secondary>in PL/Perl</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Converts a Perl variable to the value of the data type passed as a
+ second argument and returns a string representation of this value.
+ Correctly handles nested arrays and values of composite types.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>
+ <literal><function>encode_array_constructor(<replaceable>array</replaceable>)</function></literal>
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary>encode_array_constructor</primary>
+ <secondary>in PL/Perl</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Returns the contents of the referenced array as a string in array constructor format
+ (see <xref linkend="sql-syntax-array-constructors"/>).
+ Individual values are quoted using <function>quote_nullable</function>.
+ Returns the argument value, quoted using <function>quote_nullable</function>,
+ if it's not a reference to an array.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>
+ <literal><function>looks_like_number(<replaceable>string</replaceable>)</function></literal>
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary>looks_like_number</primary>
+ <secondary>in PL/Perl</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Returns a true value if the content of the given string looks like a
+ number, according to Perl, returns false otherwise.
+ Returns undef if the argument is undef. Leading and trailing space is
+ ignored. <literal>Inf</literal> and <literal>Infinity</literal> are regarded as numbers.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>
+ <literal><function>is_array_ref(<replaceable>argument</replaceable>)</function></literal>
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary>is_array_ref</primary>
+ <secondary>in PL/Perl</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Returns a true value if the given argument may be treated as an
+ array reference, that is, if ref of the argument is <literal>ARRAY</literal> or
+ <literal>PostgreSQL::InServer::ARRAY</literal>. Returns false otherwise.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ </variablelist>
+ </sect2>
+ </sect1>
+
+ <sect1 id="plperl-global">
+ <title>Global Values in PL/Perl</title>
+
+ <para>
+ You can use the global hash <varname>%_SHARED</varname> to store
+ data, including code references, between function calls for the
+ lifetime of the current session.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Here is a simple example for shared data:
+<programlisting>
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION set_var(name text, val text) RETURNS text AS $$
+ if ($_SHARED{$_[0]} = $_[1]) {
+ return 'ok';
+ } else {
+ return "cannot set shared variable $_[0] to $_[1]";
+ }
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION get_var(name text) RETURNS text AS $$
+ return $_SHARED{$_[0]};
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+
+SELECT set_var('sample', 'Hello, PL/Perl! How''s tricks?');
+SELECT get_var('sample');
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Here is a slightly more complicated example using a code reference:
+
+<programlisting>
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION myfuncs() RETURNS void AS $$
+ $_SHARED{myquote} = sub {
+ my $arg = shift;
+ $arg =~ s/(['\\])/\\$1/g;
+ return "'$arg'";
+ };
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+
+SELECT myfuncs(); /* initializes the function */
+
+/* Set up a function that uses the quote function */
+
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION use_quote(TEXT) RETURNS text AS $$
+ my $text_to_quote = shift;
+ my $qfunc = $_SHARED{myquote};
+ return &amp;$qfunc($text_to_quote);
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+</programlisting>
+
+ (You could have replaced the above with the one-liner
+ <literal>return $_SHARED{myquote}-&gt;($_[0]);</literal>
+ at the expense of readability.)
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ For security reasons, PL/Perl executes functions called by any one SQL role
+ in a separate Perl interpreter for that role. This prevents accidental or
+ malicious interference by one user with the behavior of another user's
+ PL/Perl functions. Each such interpreter has its own value of the
+ <varname>%_SHARED</varname> variable and other global state. Thus, two
+ PL/Perl functions will share the same value of <varname>%_SHARED</varname>
+ if and only if they are executed by the same SQL role. In an application
+ wherein a single session executes code under multiple SQL roles (via
+ <literal>SECURITY DEFINER</literal> functions, use of <command>SET ROLE</command>, etc.)
+ you may need to take explicit steps to ensure that PL/Perl functions can
+ share data via <varname>%_SHARED</varname>. To do that, make sure that
+ functions that should communicate are owned by the same user, and mark
+ them <literal>SECURITY DEFINER</literal>. You must of course take care that
+ such functions can't be used to do anything unintended.
+ </para>
+ </sect1>
+
+ <sect1 id="plperl-trusted">
+ <title>Trusted and Untrusted PL/Perl</title>
+
+ <indexterm zone="plperl-trusted">
+ <primary>trusted</primary>
+ <secondary>PL/Perl</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+
+ <para>
+ Normally, PL/Perl is installed as a <quote>trusted</quote> programming
+ language named <literal>plperl</literal>. In this setup, certain Perl
+ operations are disabled to preserve security. In general, the
+ operations that are restricted are those that interact with the
+ environment. This includes file handle operations,
+ <literal>require</literal>, and <literal>use</literal> (for
+ external modules). There is no way to access internals of the
+ database server process or to gain OS-level access with the
+ permissions of the server process,
+ as a C function can do. Thus, any unprivileged database user can
+ be permitted to use this language.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Here is an example of a function that will not work because file
+ system operations are not allowed for security reasons:
+<programlisting>
+CREATE FUNCTION badfunc() RETURNS integer AS $$
+ my $tmpfile = "/tmp/badfile";
+ open my $fh, '&gt;', $tmpfile
+ or elog(ERROR, qq{could not open the file "$tmpfile": $!});
+ print $fh "Testing writing to a file\n";
+ close $fh or elog(ERROR, qq{could not close the file "$tmpfile": $!});
+ return 1;
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+</programlisting>
+ The creation of this function will fail as its use of a forbidden
+ operation will be caught by the validator.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Sometimes it is desirable to write Perl functions that are not
+ restricted. For example, one might want a Perl function that sends
+ mail. To handle these cases, PL/Perl can also be installed as an
+ <quote>untrusted</quote> language (usually called
+ <application>PL/PerlU</application><indexterm><primary>PL/PerlU</primary></indexterm>).
+ In this case the full Perl language is available. When installing the
+ language, the language name <literal>plperlu</literal> will select
+ the untrusted PL/Perl variant.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ The writer of a <application>PL/PerlU</application> function must take care that the function
+ cannot be used to do anything unwanted, since it will be able to do
+ anything that could be done by a user logged in as the database
+ administrator. Note that the database system allows only database
+ superusers to create functions in untrusted languages.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ If the above function was created by a superuser using the language
+ <literal>plperlu</literal>, execution would succeed.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ In the same way, anonymous code blocks written in Perl can use
+ restricted operations if the language is specified as
+ <literal>plperlu</literal> rather than <literal>plperl</literal>, but the caller
+ must be a superuser.
+ </para>
+
+ <note>
+ <para>
+ While <application>PL/Perl</application> functions run in a separate Perl
+ interpreter for each SQL role, all <application>PL/PerlU</application> functions
+ executed in a given session run in a single Perl interpreter (which is
+ not any of the ones used for <application>PL/Perl</application> functions).
+ This allows <application>PL/PerlU</application> functions to share data freely,
+ but no communication can occur between <application>PL/Perl</application> and
+ <application>PL/PerlU</application> functions.
+ </para>
+ </note>
+
+ <note>
+ <para>
+ Perl cannot support multiple interpreters within one process unless
+ it was built with the appropriate flags, namely either
+ <literal>usemultiplicity</literal> or <literal>useithreads</literal>.
+ (<literal>usemultiplicity</literal> is preferred unless you actually need
+ to use threads. For more details, see the
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>perlembed</refentrytitle></citerefentry> man page.)
+ If <application>PL/Perl</application> is used with a copy of Perl that was not built
+ this way, then it is only possible to have one Perl interpreter per
+ session, and so any one session can only execute either
+ <application>PL/PerlU</application> functions, or <application>PL/Perl</application> functions
+ that are all called by the same SQL role.
+ </para>
+ </note>
+
+ </sect1>
+
+ <sect1 id="plperl-triggers">
+ <title>PL/Perl Triggers</title>
+
+ <para>
+ PL/Perl can be used to write trigger functions. In a trigger function,
+ the hash reference <varname>$_TD</varname> contains information about the
+ current trigger event. <varname>$_TD</varname> is a global variable,
+ which gets a separate local value for each invocation of the trigger.
+ The fields of the <varname>$_TD</varname> hash reference are:
+
+ <variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>$_TD-&gt;{new}{foo}</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal>NEW</literal> value of column <literal>foo</literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>$_TD-&gt;{old}{foo}</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal>OLD</literal> value of column <literal>foo</literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>$_TD-&gt;{name}</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Name of the trigger being called
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>$_TD-&gt;{event}</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Trigger event: <literal>INSERT</literal>, <literal>UPDATE</literal>,
+ <literal>DELETE</literal>, <literal>TRUNCATE</literal>, or <literal>UNKNOWN</literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>$_TD-&gt;{when}</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ When the trigger was called: <literal>BEFORE</literal>,
+ <literal>AFTER</literal>, <literal>INSTEAD OF</literal>, or
+ <literal>UNKNOWN</literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>$_TD-&gt;{level}</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The trigger level: <literal>ROW</literal>, <literal>STATEMENT</literal>, or <literal>UNKNOWN</literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>$_TD-&gt;{relid}</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ OID of the table on which the trigger fired
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>$_TD-&gt;{table_name}</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Name of the table on which the trigger fired
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>$_TD-&gt;{relname}</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Name of the table on which the trigger fired. This has been deprecated,
+ and could be removed in a future release.
+ Please use $_TD-&gt;{table_name} instead.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>$_TD-&gt;{table_schema}</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Name of the schema in which the table on which the trigger fired, is
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>$_TD-&gt;{argc}</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Number of arguments of the trigger function
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>@{$_TD-&gt;{args}}</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Arguments of the trigger function. Does not exist if <literal>$_TD-&gt;{argc}</literal> is 0.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ </variablelist>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Row-level triggers can return one of the following:
+
+ <variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>return;</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Execute the operation
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>"SKIP"</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Don't execute the operation
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>"MODIFY"</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Indicates that the <literal>NEW</literal> row was modified by
+ the trigger function
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ </variablelist>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Here is an example of a trigger function, illustrating some of the
+ above:
+<programlisting>
+CREATE TABLE test (
+ i int,
+ v varchar
+);
+
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION valid_id() RETURNS trigger AS $$
+ if (($_TD-&gt;{new}{i} &gt;= 100) || ($_TD-&gt;{new}{i} &lt;= 0)) {
+ return "SKIP"; # skip INSERT/UPDATE command
+ } elsif ($_TD-&gt;{new}{v} ne "immortal") {
+ $_TD-&gt;{new}{v} .= "(modified by trigger)";
+ return "MODIFY"; # modify row and execute INSERT/UPDATE command
+ } else {
+ return; # execute INSERT/UPDATE command
+ }
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+
+CREATE TRIGGER test_valid_id_trig
+ BEFORE INSERT OR UPDATE ON test
+ FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE FUNCTION valid_id();
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+ </sect1>
+
+ <sect1 id="plperl-event-triggers">
+ <title>PL/Perl Event Triggers</title>
+
+ <para>
+ PL/Perl can be used to write event trigger functions. In an event trigger
+ function, the hash reference <varname>$_TD</varname> contains information
+ about the current trigger event. <varname>$_TD</varname> is a global variable,
+ which gets a separate local value for each invocation of the trigger. The
+ fields of the <varname>$_TD</varname> hash reference are:
+
+ <variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>$_TD-&gt;{event}</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The name of the event the trigger is fired for.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>$_TD-&gt;{tag}</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The command tag for which the trigger is fired.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ </variablelist>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ The return value of the trigger function is ignored.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Here is an example of an event trigger function, illustrating some of the
+ above:
+<programlisting>
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION perlsnitch() RETURNS event_trigger AS $$
+ elog(NOTICE, "perlsnitch: " . $_TD->{event} . " " . $_TD->{tag} . " ");
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+
+CREATE EVENT TRIGGER perl_a_snitch
+ ON ddl_command_start
+ EXECUTE FUNCTION perlsnitch();
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+ </sect1>
+
+ <sect1 id="plperl-under-the-hood">
+ <title>PL/Perl Under the Hood</title>
+
+ <sect2 id="plperl-config">
+ <title>Configuration</title>
+
+ <para>
+ This section lists configuration parameters that affect <application>PL/Perl</application>.
+ </para>
+
+ <variablelist>
+
+ <varlistentry id="guc-plperl-on-init" xreflabel="plperl.on_init">
+ <term>
+ <varname>plperl.on_init</varname> (<type>string</type>)
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary><varname>plperl.on_init</varname> configuration parameter</primary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Specifies Perl code to be executed when a Perl interpreter is first
+ initialized, before it is specialized for use by <literal>plperl</literal> or
+ <literal>plperlu</literal>.
+ The SPI functions are not available when this code is executed.
+ If the code fails with an error it will abort the initialization of
+ the interpreter and propagate out to the calling query, causing the
+ current transaction or subtransaction to be aborted.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The Perl code is limited to a single string. Longer code can be placed
+ into a module and loaded by the <literal>on_init</literal> string.
+ Examples:
+<programlisting>
+plperl.on_init = 'require "plperlinit.pl"'
+plperl.on_init = 'use lib "/my/app"; use MyApp::PgInit;'
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Any modules loaded by <literal>plperl.on_init</literal>, either directly or
+ indirectly, will be available for use by <literal>plperl</literal>. This may
+ create a security risk. To see what modules have been loaded you can use:
+<programlisting>
+DO 'elog(WARNING, join ", ", sort keys %INC)' LANGUAGE plperl;
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Initialization will happen in the postmaster if the <literal>plperl</literal> library is
+ included in <xref linkend="guc-shared-preload-libraries"/>, in which
+ case extra consideration should be given to the risk of destabilizing
+ the postmaster. The principal reason for making use of this feature
+ is that Perl modules loaded by <literal>plperl.on_init</literal> need be
+ loaded only at postmaster start, and will be instantly available
+ without loading overhead in individual database sessions. However,
+ keep in mind that the overhead is avoided only for the first Perl
+ interpreter used by a database session &mdash; either PL/PerlU, or
+ PL/Perl for the first SQL role that calls a PL/Perl function. Any
+ additional Perl interpreters created in a database session will have
+ to execute <literal>plperl.on_init</literal> afresh. Also, on Windows there
+ will be no savings whatsoever from preloading, since the Perl
+ interpreter created in the postmaster process does not propagate to
+ child processes.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This parameter can only be set in the <filename>postgresql.conf</filename> file or on the server command line.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry id="guc-plperl-on-plperl-init" xreflabel="plperl.on_plperl_init">
+ <term>
+ <varname>plperl.on_plperl_init</varname> (<type>string</type>)
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary><varname>plperl.on_plperl_init</varname> configuration parameter</primary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <term>
+ <varname>plperl.on_plperlu_init</varname> (<type>string</type>)
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary><varname>plperl.on_plperlu_init</varname> configuration parameter</primary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ These parameters specify Perl code to be executed when a Perl
+ interpreter is specialized for <literal>plperl</literal> or
+ <literal>plperlu</literal> respectively. This will happen when a PL/Perl or
+ PL/PerlU function is first executed in a database session, or when
+ an additional interpreter has to be created because the other language
+ is called or a PL/Perl function is called by a new SQL role. This
+ follows any initialization done by <literal>plperl.on_init</literal>.
+ The SPI functions are not available when this code is executed.
+ The Perl code in <literal>plperl.on_plperl_init</literal> is executed after
+ <quote>locking down</quote> the interpreter, and thus it can only perform
+ trusted operations.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ If the code fails with an error it will abort the initialization and
+ propagate out to the calling query, causing the current transaction or
+ subtransaction to be aborted. Any actions already done within Perl
+ won't be undone; however, that interpreter won't be used again.
+ If the language is used again the initialization will be attempted
+ again within a fresh Perl interpreter.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Only superusers can change these settings. Although these settings
+ can be changed within a session, such changes will not affect Perl
+ interpreters that have already been used to execute functions.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry id="guc-plperl-use-strict" xreflabel="plperl.use_strict">
+ <term>
+ <varname>plperl.use_strict</varname> (<type>boolean</type>)
+ <indexterm>
+ <primary><varname>plperl.use_strict</varname> configuration parameter</primary>
+ </indexterm>
+ </term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ When set true subsequent compilations of PL/Perl functions will have
+ the <literal>strict</literal> pragma enabled. This parameter does not affect
+ functions already compiled in the current session.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ </variablelist>
+</sect2>
+
+ <sect2 id="plperl-missing">
+ <title>Limitations and Missing Features</title>
+
+ <para>
+ The following features are currently missing from PL/Perl, but they
+ would make welcome contributions.
+
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ PL/Perl functions cannot call each other directly.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ SPI is not yet fully implemented.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ If you are fetching very large data sets using
+ <literal>spi_exec_query</literal>, you should be aware that
+ these will all go into memory. You can avoid this by using
+ <literal>spi_query</literal>/<literal>spi_fetchrow</literal> as
+ illustrated earlier.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ A similar problem occurs if a set-returning function passes a
+ large set of rows back to PostgreSQL via <literal>return</literal>. You
+ can avoid this problem too by instead using
+ <literal>return_next</literal> for each row returned, as shown
+ previously.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ When a session ends normally, not due to a fatal error, any
+ <literal>END</literal> blocks that have been defined are executed.
+ Currently no other actions are performed. Specifically,
+ file handles are not automatically flushed and objects are
+ not automatically destroyed.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </para>
+ </sect2>
+
+ </sect1>
+
+</chapter>