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<chapter id="plpgsql">

<para>

The <literal>FOR-IN-EXECUTE</> statement is another way to iterate over

records:

rows:

<synopsis>

<optional>&lt;&lt;<replaceable>label</replaceable>&gt;&gt;</optional>

FOR <replaceable>record_or_row</replaceable> IN EXECUTE <replaceable>text_expression</replaceable> LOOP

<para>

The <application>PL/pgSQL</> parser presently distinguishes the

two kinds of <literal>FOR</> loops (integer or query result) by checking

whether the target variable mentioned just after <literal>FOR</> has been

declared as a record or row variable. If not, it's presumed to be

an integer <literal>FOR</> loop. This can cause rather nonintuitive error

messages when the true problem is, say, that one has

misspelled the variable name after the <literal>FOR</>. Typically

the complaint will be something like <literal>missing ".." at end of SQL

expression</>.

whether <literal>..</> appears outside any parentheses between

<literal>IN</> and <literal>LOOP</>. If <literal>..</> is not seen then

the loop is presumed to be a loop over rows. Mistyping the <literal>..</>

is thus likely to lead to a complaint along the lines of

<quote>loop variable of loop over rows must be a record or row</>,

rather than the simple syntax error one might expect to get.

</para>

</note>

</sect2>