43.4. Global Values in PL/Perl#
You can use the global hash%_SHARED
to store data, including code references, between function calls for the lifetime of the current session.
Here is a simple example for shared data:
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');
Here is a slightly more complicated example using a code reference:
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 $$ my $text_to_quote = shift; my $qfunc = $_SHARED{myquote}; return &$qfunc($text_to_quote);$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
(You could have replaced the above with the one-linerreturn $_SHARED{myquote}->($_[0]);
at the expense of readability.)
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%_SHARED
variable and other global state. Thus, two PL/Perl functions will share the same value of%_SHARED
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 (viaSECURITY DEFINER
functions, use ofSET ROLE
, etc.) you may need to take explicit steps to ensure that PL/Perl functions can share data via%_SHARED
. To do that, make sure that functions that should communicate are owned by the same user, and mark themSECURITY DEFINER
. You must of course take care that such functions can't be used to do anything unintended.