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<refentry id="SQL-EXECUTE">
 <refmeta>
  <refentrytitle id="sql-execute-title">EXECUTE</refentrytitle>
  <refmiscinfo>SQL - Language Statements</refmiscinfo>
 </refmeta>

 <refnamediv>
  <refname>EXECUTE</refname>
  <refpurpose>execute a prepared statement</refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>

 <refsynopsisdiv>
<synopsis>
EXECUTE <replaceable class="PARAMETER">plan_name</replaceable> [ (<replaceable class="PARAMETER">parameter</replaceable> [, ...] ) ] [ INTO [ TEMPORARY | TEMP ] <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table</replaceable> ]
</synopsis>
 </refsynopsisdiv>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Description</title>

  <para>
   <command>EXECUTE</command> is used to execute a previously prepared
   statement. Since prepared statements only exist for the duration of a
   session, the prepared statement must have been created by a
   <command>PREPARE</command> statement executed earlier in the
   current session.
  </para>

  <para>
   If the <command>PREPARE</command> statement that created the statement
   specified some parameters, a compatible set of parameters must be
   passed to the <command>EXECUTE</command> statement, or else an
   error is raised. Note that (unlike functions) prepared statements are
   not overloaded based on the type or number of their parameters; the
   name of a prepared statement must be unique within a database session.
  </para>

  <para>
   Like <command>SELECT INTO</command>, <command>EXECUTE</command> can
   store the results of executing a query into a newly-created
   table, by specifying an <literal>INTO</> clause. For more information on this behavior,
   see <xref linkend="sql-selectinto" endterm="sql-selectinto-title">.
  </para>

  <para>
   For more information on the creation and usage of prepared statements,
   see <xref linkend="sql-prepare" endterm="sql-prepare-title">.
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Parameters</title>

  <variablelist>
   <varlistentry>
    <term><replaceable class="PARAMETER">plan_name</replaceable></term>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      The name of the prepared statement to execute.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>

   <varlistentry>
    <term><replaceable class="PARAMETER">parameter</replaceable></term>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      The actual value of a parameter to the prepared statement.  This
      must be an expression yielding a value of a type compatible with
      the data type specified for this parameter position in the
      <command>PREPARE</command> command that created the prepared
      statement.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>

   <varlistentry>
    <term><replaceable class="PARAMETER">table</replaceable></term>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      The name of the table in which to store the results of executing
      the statement (if it is a <command>SELECT</command>). If no
      table is specified, the results are returned to the client (as
      normal).
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>
  </variablelist>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Compatibility</title>

  <para>
   The SQL standard includes an <command>EXECUTE</command> statement,
   but it is only for use in embedded SQL.  This version of the
   <command>EXECUTE</command> statement also uses a somewhat different
   syntax.
  </para>
 </refsect1>
</refentry>

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