<sect1 id="plpgsql-structure">

<title>Structure of <application>PL/pgSQL</application></title>

<para>

Functions written in <application>PL/pgSQL</application> are defined

to the server by executing <xref linkend="sql-createfunction"> commands.

Such a command would normally look like, say,

<programlisting>

CREATE FUNCTION somefunc(integer, text) RETURNS integer

AS '<replaceable>function body text</>'

LANGUAGE plpgsql;

</programlisting>

The function body is simply a string literal so far as <command>CREATE

FUNCTION</> is concerned. It is often helpful to use dollar quoting

(see <xref linkend="sql-syntax-dollar-quoting">) to write the function

body, rather than the normal single quote syntax. Without dollar quoting,

any single quotes or backslashes in the function body must be escaped by

doubling them. Almost all the examples in this chapter use dollar-quoted

literals for their function bodies.

</para>

<para>

<application>PL/pgSQL</application> is a block-structured language.

The complete text of a functiondefinition must be a

The complete text of a functionbody must be a

<firstterm>block</>. A block is defined as:

<synopsis>