37.3. Data Values in PL/Perl

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 SELECT statement). Conversely, the return command will accept any string that is acceptable input format for the function's declared return type. So, the PL/Perl programmer can manipulate data values as if they were just text.

PL/Perl can also return row sets and composite types, and row sets of composite types. Here is an example of a PL/Perl function returning a row set of a row type. Note that a composite type is always represented as a hash reference.

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 FUNCTION test_munge() RETURNS SETOF test AS $$
    my $res = [];
    my $rv = spi_exec_query('select i, v from test;');
    my $status = $rv->{status};
    my $nrows = $rv->{processed};
    foreach my $rn (0 .. $nrows - 1) {
        my $row = $rv->{rows}[$rn];
        $row->{i} += 200 if defined($row->{i});
        $row->{v} =~ tr/A-Za-z/a-zA-Z/ if (defined($row->{v}));
        push @$res, $row;
    }
    return $res;
$$ LANGUAGE plperl;

SELECT * FROM test_munge();

Here is an example of a PL/Perl function returning a composite type:

CREATE TYPE testrowperl AS (f1 integer, f2 text, f3 text);

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION perl_row() RETURNS testrowperl AS $$
    return {f2 => 'hello', f1 => 1, f3 => 'world'};
$$ LANGUAGE plperl;

Here is an example of a PL/Perl function returning a row set of a composite type. Since a row set is always a reference to an array and a composite type is always a reference to a hash, a rowset of a composite type is a reference to an array of hash references.

CREATE TYPE testsetperl AS (f1 integer, f2 text, f3 text);

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION perl_set() RETURNS SETOF testsetperl AS $$
    return [
        { f1 => 1, f2 => 'Hello', f3 =>  'World' },
        { f1 => 2, f2 => 'Hello', f3 =>  'PostgreSQL' },
        { f1 => 3, f2 => 'Hello', f3 =>  'PL/Perl' }
    ];
$$  LANGUAGE plperl;