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

 <refnamediv>
  <refname>PREPARE</refname>
  <refpurpose>prepare a statement for execution</refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>

 <indexterm zone="sql-prepare">
  <primary>PREPARE</primary>
 </indexterm>

 <refsynopsisdiv>
<synopsis>
PREPARE <replaceable class="PARAMETER">plan_name</replaceable> [ (<replaceable class="PARAMETER">datatype</replaceable> [, ...] ) ] AS <replaceable class="PARAMETER">statement</replaceable>
</synopsis>
 </refsynopsisdiv>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Description</title>

  <para>
   <command>PREPARE</command> creates a prepared statement. A prepared
   statement is a server-side object that can be used to optimize
   performance. When the <command>PREPARE</command> statement is
   executed, the specified statement is parsed, rewritten, and
   planned. When an <command>EXECUTE</command> command is subsequently
   issued, the prepared statement need only be executed. Thus, the
   parsing, rewriting, and planning stages are only performed once,
   instead of every time the statement is executed.
  </para>

  <para>
   Prepared statements can take parameters: values that are
   substituted into the statement when it is executed. To include
   parameters in a prepared statement, supply a list of data types in
   the <command>PREPARE</command> statement, and, in the statement to
   be prepared itself, refer to the parameters by position using
   <literal>$1</literal>, <literal>$2</literal>, etc. When executing
   the statement, specify the actual values for these parameters in
   the <command>EXECUTE</command> statement.  Refer to <xref
   linkend="sql-execute" endterm="sql-execute-title"> for more
   information about that.
  </para>

  <para>
   Prepared statements are only stored in and for the duration of
   the current database session. When
   the session ends, the prepared statement is forgotten, and so it must be
   recreated before being used again. This also means that a single
   prepared statement cannot be used by multiple simultaneous database
   clients; however, each client can create their own prepared statement
   to use.
  </para>

  <para>
   Prepared statements have the largest performance advantage when a
   single session is being used to execute a large number of similar
   statements. The performance difference will be particularly
   significant if the statements are complex to plan or rewrite, for
   example, if the query involves a join of many tables or requires
   the application of several rules. If the statement is relatively simple
   to plan and rewrite but relatively expensive to execute, the
   performance advantage of prepared statements will be less noticeable.
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Parameters</title>

  <variablelist>
   <varlistentry>
    <term><replaceable class="PARAMETER">plan_name</replaceable></term>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      An arbitrary name given to this particular prepared
      statement. It must be unique within a single session and is
      subsequently used to execute or deallocate a previously prepared
      statement.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>

   <varlistentry>
    <term><replaceable class="PARAMETER">datatype</replaceable></term>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      The data type of a parameter to the prepared statement.  To
      refer to the parameters in the prepared statement itself, use
      <literal>$1</literal>, <literal>$2</literal>, etc.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>

   <varlistentry>
    <term><replaceable class="PARAMETER">statement</replaceable></term>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      Any <command>SELECT</>, <command>INSERT</>, <command>UPDATE</>,
      or <command>DELETE</> statement.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>
  </variablelist>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Notes</title>

  <para>
   In some situations, the query plan produced by for a prepared
   statement may be inferior to the plan produced if the statement
   were submitted and executed normally. This is because when the
   statement is planned and the planner attempts to determine the
   optimal query plan, the actual values of any parameters specified
   in the statement are
   unavailable. <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> collects
   statistics on the distribution of data in the table, and can use
   constant values in a statement to make guesses about the likely
   result of executing the statement. Since this data is unavailable
   when planning prepared statements with parameters, the chosen plan
   may be suboptimal. To examine the query plan
   <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> has chosen for a prepared
   statement, use <command>EXPLAIN EXECUTE</command>.
  </para>

  <para>
   For more information on query planning and the statistics collected
   by <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> for that purpose, see
   the <xref linkend="sql-analyze" endterm="sql-analyze-title">
   documentation.
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Compatibility</title>

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

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