Editing PL/pgSQL (section)

{{Infobox programming language
| name = PL/pgSQL
| title = 
| logo = [[File:Postgresql elephant.svg|120px]]
| logo caption = 
| screenshot =         <!-- (filename) -->
| screenshot caption = 
| paradigm =           <!-- or: | paradigms = -->
| family =  
| designer = Jan Wieck
| developer = PostgreSQL Global Development Group
| released = {{start date and age|1998|10|30|df=no}}
| latest release version = 
| latest release date =     <!-- {{start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} -->
| latest preview version = 
| latest preview date =     <!-- {{start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} -->
| typing = 
| scope = 
| programming language = 
| platform = 
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| license = 
| file ext = 
| file format =        <!-- or: | file formats = -->
| website = {{url|https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/plpgsql.html}}
| implementations = 
| dialects = 
| influenced by = [[PL/SQL]], [[Ada (programming language)|Ada]]
| influenced = 
}}
'''PL/pgSQL''' ('''Procedural Language/PostgreSQL''') is a [[procedural programming|procedural]] [[programming language]] supported by the [[PostgreSQL]] [[ORDBMS]].  It closely resembles [[Oracle Database|Oracle]]'s [[PL/SQL]] language. Implemented by Jan Wieck, PL/pgSQL first appeared with PostgreSQL 6.4, released on October 30, 1998.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/release-6-4.html |title= PostgreSQL Documentation, Appendix E: Release Notes, Release 6.4 |date= January 2012 |publisher= PostgreSQL Global Development Group}}</ref> Version 9 also implements some ISO [[SQL/PSM]] features, like overloading of SQL-invoked functions and procedures.<ref>{{Citation | publisher = PostgreSQL | title = SQL standard features | edition = 9 | contribution-url = https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.0/static/features-sql-standard.html | contribution = feature T322}}.</ref>

PL/pgSQL, as a fully featured programming language, allows much more procedural control than [[SQL]], including the ability to use loops and other control structures. SQL statements and [[database trigger|trigger]]s can call functions created in the PL/pgSQL language.

The design of PL/pgSQL aimed to allow PostgreSQL users to perform more complex operations and computations than SQL, while providing ease of use. The language is able to be defined as trusted by the server.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/plpgsql.html | title = PL/pgSQL – SQL Procedural Language | publisher = PostgreSQL | accessdate = 2007-11-15}}</ref>

PL/pgSQL is one of the programming languages included in the standard PostgreSQL distribution,<ref>{{cite web|title=Procedural Languages|date=9 May 2024 |url=https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/xplang.html}}</ref> the others being [https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/pltcl.html PL/Tcl], PL/Perl<ref>{{Citation | title = Docs | contribution = PL/Perl | contribution-url = https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/plperl.html | edition = current | publisher = PostgreSQL}}.</ref> and PL/Python.<ref>{{Citation | title = Docs | contribution = PL/Python | contribution-url = https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/plpython.html | edition = current | publisher = PostgreSQL}}.</ref> In addition, many others are available from third parties, including PL/Java,<ref>{{Citation | contribution = PL/Java | title = Gborg | type = project | contribution-url = https://tada.github.io/pljava/ | publisher = PostgreSQL}}.</ref> PL/pgPSM,<ref name = PSM>{{Citation | title = SQL/PSM | date = 20 May 2008 | url = https://postgres.cz/wiki/SQL/PSM_Manual | publisher = PostgreSQL | type = manual}}.</ref> PL/php,<ref>{{Citation | contribution = PL/PHP | contribution-url = https://public.commandprompt.com/projects/plphp/ | publisher = Command prompt | title = Community}}.</ref> PL/R,<ref>{{Citation | last = Conway | first = Joe | title = PL/R | url = http://www.joeconway.com/plr/ | access-date = 2005-02-25 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140619175406/http://www.joeconway.com/plr/ | archive-date = 2014-06-19 | url-status = dead }}.</ref>  PL/Ruby,<ref>{{Citation | title = PL/Ruby | url = https://github.com/knu/postgresql-plruby | type = project | publisher = Ruby lang| date = 2018-11-23 }}.</ref> 
[https://github.com/petere/plsh PL/sh], 
[https://github.com/pllua/pllua  PL/Lua], Postmodern<ref>{{Citation |last=Haverbeke |first=Marijn |title=marijnh/Postmodern |date=2024-05-27 |url=https://github.com/marijnh/Postmodern |access-date=2024-06-01}}</ref> (based on [[Common Lisp]]) and [https://pgxn.org/dist/plv8/doc/plv8.html PL/v8].  PostgreSQL uses [[GNU bison|Bison]] as its parser,<ref>
{{Citation | title = Docs | edition = 9 
| contribution = Parser stage 
| publisher = PostgreSQL 
| contribution-url = https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.0/static/parser-stage.html
}}
</ref>
making it easy to port many [[open-source model|open-source]] languages, as well as to [[Code reuse|reuse code]].