[SQL] plpqsql and RETURN NEXT requires a LOOP?

[Davidson, Robert]

Title: plpqsql and RETURN NEXT requires a LOOP?

From my reading of 36.7.1 Returning from a Function

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/interactive/plpgsql-control-structures.html#PLPGSQL-STATEMENTS-RETURNING

it appears that RETURN NEXT in a plpgsql function requires you to loop through the result set. Is this correct? If so, I would be happy to post this example to the interactive docs (which could use a RETURN NEXT example), but wanted to make sure that I wasn’t missing something more elegant or more efficient.

Best Regards,

Robert Davidson

-----------------------------------------

CREATE TABLE test (textcol varchar(10), intcol int);

INSERT INTO test VALUES ('a', 1);

INSERT INTO test VALUES ('a', 2);

INSERT INTO test VALUES ('b', 5);

INSERT INTO test VALUES ('b', 6);

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION ReturnNexting(pText Text) RETURNS SETOF test AS $$

        DECLARE

                rec RECORD;

        BEGIN

                FOR rec IN SELECT * FROM test WHERE textcol = pText LOOP

                        RETURN NEXT rec;

                END LOOP;

                RETURN;

        END;

$$

LANGUAGE plpgsql;

SELECT * FROM ReturnNexting('a');