NAME

       SPI_execute - execute a command

SYNOPSIS

       int SPI_execute(const char * command, bool read_only, long count)

DESCRIPTION

       SPI_execute executes the specified SQL command for count rows. If read_only is true, the
       command must be read-only, and execution overhead is somewhat reduced.

       This function can only be called from a connected procedure.

       If count is zero then the command is executed for all rows that it applies to. If count is
       greater than zero, then no more than count rows will be retrieved; execution stops when
       the count is reached, much like adding a LIMIT clause to the query. For example,

           SPI_execute("SELECT * FROM foo", true, 5);

       will retrieve at most 5 rows from the table. Note that such a limit is only effective when
       the command actually returns rows. For example,

           SPI_execute("INSERT INTO foo SELECT * FROM bar", false, 5);

       inserts all rows from bar, ignoring the count parameter. However, with

           SPI_execute("INSERT INTO foo SELECT * FROM bar RETURNING *", false, 5);

       at most 5 rows would be inserted, since execution would stop after the fifth RETURNING
       result row is retrieved.

       You can pass multiple commands in one string; SPI_execute returns the result for the
       command executed last. The count limit applies to each command separately (even though
       only the last result will actually be returned). The limit is not applied to any hidden
       commands generated by rules.

       When read_only is false, SPI_execute increments the command counter and computes a new
       snapshot before executing each command in the string. The snapshot does not actually
       change if the current transaction isolation level is SERIALIZABLE or REPEATABLE READ, but
       in READ COMMITTED mode the snapshot update allows each command to see the results of newly
       committed transactions from other sessions. This is essential for consistent behavior when
       the commands are modifying the database.

       When read_only is true, SPI_execute does not update either the snapshot or the command
       counter, and it allows only plain SELECT commands to appear in the command string. The
       commands are executed using the snapshot previously established for the surrounding query.
       This execution mode is somewhat faster than the read/write mode due to eliminating
       per-command overhead. It also allows genuinely stable functions to be built: since
       successive executions will all use the same snapshot, there will be no change in the
       results.

       It is generally unwise to mix read-only and read-write commands within a single function
       using SPI; that could result in very confusing behavior, since the read-only queries would
       not see the results of any database updates done by the read-write queries.

       The actual number of rows for which the (last) command was executed is returned in the
       global variable SPI_processed. If the return value of the function is SPI_OK_SELECT,
       SPI_OK_INSERT_RETURNING, SPI_OK_DELETE_RETURNING, or SPI_OK_UPDATE_RETURNING, then you can
       use the global pointer SPITupleTable *SPI_tuptable to access the result rows. Some utility
       commands (such as EXPLAIN) also return row sets, and SPI_tuptable will contain the result
       in these cases too. Some utility commands (COPY, CREATE TABLE AS) don't return a row set,
       so SPI_tuptable is NULL, but they still return the number of rows processed in
       SPI_processed.

       The structure SPITupleTable is defined thus:

           typedef struct
           {
               MemoryContext tuptabcxt;    /* memory context of result table */
               uint64      alloced;        /* number of alloced vals */
               uint64      free;           /* number of free vals */
               TupleDesc   tupdesc;        /* row descriptor */
               HeapTuple  *vals;           /* rows */
           } SPITupleTable;

       vals is an array of pointers to rows. (The number of valid entries is given by
       SPI_processed.)  tupdesc is a row descriptor which you can pass to SPI functions dealing
       with rows.  tuptabcxt, alloced, and free are internal fields not intended for use by SPI
       callers.

       SPI_finish frees all SPITupleTables allocated during the current procedure. You can free a
       particular result table earlier, if you are done with it, by calling SPI_freetuptable.

ARGUMENTS

       const char * command
           string containing command to execute

       bool read_only
           true for read-only execution

       long count
           maximum number of rows to return, or 0 for no limit

RETURN VALUE

       If the execution of the command was successful then one of the following (nonnegative)
       values will be returned:

       SPI_OK_SELECT
           if a SELECT (but not SELECT INTO) was executed

       SPI_OK_SELINTO
           if a SELECT INTO was executed

       SPI_OK_INSERT
           if an INSERT was executed

       SPI_OK_DELETE
           if a DELETE was executed

       SPI_OK_UPDATE
           if an UPDATE was executed

       SPI_OK_INSERT_RETURNING
           if an INSERT RETURNING was executed

       SPI_OK_DELETE_RETURNING
           if a DELETE RETURNING was executed

       SPI_OK_UPDATE_RETURNING
           if an UPDATE RETURNING was executed

       SPI_OK_UTILITY
           if a utility command (e.g., CREATE TABLE) was executed

       SPI_OK_REWRITTEN
           if the command was rewritten into another kind of command (e.g., UPDATE became an
           INSERT) by a rule.

       On error, one of the following negative values is returned:

       SPI_ERROR_ARGUMENT
           if command is NULL or count is less than 0

       SPI_ERROR_COPY
           if COPY TO stdout or COPY FROM stdin was attempted

       SPI_ERROR_TRANSACTION
           if a transaction manipulation command was attempted (BEGIN, COMMIT, ROLLBACK,
           SAVEPOINT, PREPARE TRANSACTION, COMMIT PREPARED, ROLLBACK PREPARED, or any variant
           thereof)

       SPI_ERROR_OPUNKNOWN
           if the command type is unknown (shouldn't happen)

       SPI_ERROR_UNCONNECTED
           if called from an unconnected procedure

NOTES

       All SPI query-execution functions set both SPI_processed and SPI_tuptable (just the
       pointer, not the contents of the structure). Save these two global variables into local
       procedure variables if you need to access the result table of SPI_execute or another
       query-execution function across later calls.