Commit 6b97e437 authored by Bruce Momjian's avatar Bruce Momjian

Add warning about plperl nested named subroutines

Andrew Dunstan
parent 0a28eb46
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$PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/plperl.sgml,v 2.45 2005/08/24 19:16:49 tgl Exp $
$PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/plperl.sgml,v 2.46 2005/10/12 14:28:33 momjian Exp $
-->
<chapter id="plperl">
......@@ -53,22 +53,34 @@ CREATE FUNCTION <replaceable>funcname</replaceable> (<replaceable>argument-types
# PL/Perl function body
$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
</programlisting>
The body of the function is ordinary Perl code. A PL/Perl function must
The body of the function is ordinary Perl code. In fact, the PL/Perl
glue code wraps it inside a Perl subroutine. A PL/Perl function must
always return a scalar value. You can return more complex structures
(arrays, records, and sets) by returning a reference, as discussed below.
Never return a list.
</para>
<note>
<para>
The syntax of the <command>CREATE FUNCTION</command> command requires
the function body to be written as a string constant. It is usually
most convenient to use dollar quoting (see <xref
linkend="sql-syntax-dollar-quoting">) for the string constant.
If you choose to use regular single-quoted string constant syntax,
you must escape single quote marks (<literal>'</>) and backslashes
(<literal>\</>) used in the body of the function, typically by
doubling them (see <xref linkend="sql-syntax-strings">).
The use of named nested subroutines is dangerous in Perl, especially if
they refer to lexical variables in the enclosing scope. Because a PL/Perl
function is wrapped in a subroutine, any named subroutine you create will
be nested. In general, it is far safer to create anonymous subroutines
which you call via a coderef. See the <literal>perldiag</literal>
man page for more details.
</para>
</note>
<para>
The syntax of the <command>CREATE FUNCTION</command> command requires
the function body to be written as a string constant. It is usually
most convenient to use dollar quoting (see <xref
linkend="sql-syntax-dollar-quoting">) for the string constant.
If you choose to use regular single-quoted string constant syntax,
you must escape single quote marks (<literal>'</>) and backslashes
(<literal>\</>) used in the body of the function, typically by
doubling them (see <xref linkend="sql-syntax-strings">).
</para>
<para>
Arguments and results are handled as in any other Perl subroutine:
......
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