Example SQL routines#
After learning about SQL routines from the introduction, the following sections show numerous examples of valid SQL routines. The routines are suitable as inline routines or catalog routines, after adjusting the name and adjusting the example invocations.
The examples combine numerous supported statements. Refer to the specific statement documentation for further details:
FUNCTION for general SQL routine declaration
SET for assigning values to variables
RETURN for returning routine results
A very simple routine that returns a static value without requiring any input:
FUNCTION answer()
RETURNS BIGINT
RETURN 42
Inline and catalog routines#
A full example of this routine as inline routine and usage in a string concatenation with a cast:
WITH
FUNCTION answer()
RETURNS BIGINT
RETURN 42
SELECT 'The answer is ' || CAST(answer() as varchar);
-- The answer is 42
Provided the catalog example
supports routine storage in the default
schema,
you can use the following:
USE example.default;
CREATE FUNCTION example.default.answer()
RETURNS BIGINT
RETURN 42;
With the routine stored in the catalog, you can run the routine multiple times without repeated definition:
SELECT example.default.answer() + 1; -- 43
SELECT 'The answer is' || CAST(example.default.answer() as varchar); -- The answer is 42
Alternatively, you can configure the SQL environment in the Config properties to a catalog and schema that support SQL routine storage:
sql.default-function-catalog=example
sql.default-function-schema=default
Now you can manage SQL routines without the full path:
CREATE FUNCTION answer()
RETURNS BIGINT
RETURN 42;
SQL routine invocation works without the full path:
SELECT answer() + 5; -- 47
Declaration examples#
The result of calling the routine answer()
is always identical, so you can
declare it as deterministic, and add some other information:
FUNCTION answer()
LANGUAGE SQL
DETERMINISTIC
RETURNS BIGINT
COMMENT 'Provide the answer to the question about life, the universe, and everything.'
RETURN 42
The comment and other information about the routine is visible in the output of SHOW FUNCTIONS.
A simple routine that returns a greeting back to the input string fullname
concatenating two strings and the input value:
FUNCTION hello(fullname VARCHAR)
RETURNS VARCHAR
RETURN 'Hello, ' || fullname || '!'
Following is an example invocation:
SELECT hello('Jane Doe'); -- Hello, Jane Doe!
A first example routine, that uses multiple statements in a BEGIN
block. It
calculates the result of a multiplication of the input integer with 99
. The
bigint
data type is used for all variables and values. The value of integer
99
is cast to bigint
in the default value assignment for the variable x
.
FUNCTION times_ninety_nine(a bigint)
RETURNS bigint
BEGIN
DECLARE x bigint DEFAULT CAST(99 AS bigint);
RETURN x * a;
END
Following is an example invocation:
SELECT times_ninety_nine(CAST(2 as bigint)); -- 198
Conditional flows#
A first example of conditional flow control in a routine using the CASE
statement. The simple bigint
input value is compared to a number of values.
FUNCTION simple_case(a bigint)
RETURNS varchar
BEGIN
CASE a
WHEN 0 THEN RETURN 'zero';
WHEN 1 THEN RETURN 'one';
WHEN 10 THEN RETURN 'ten';
WHEN 20 THEN RETURN 'twenty';
ELSE RETURN 'other';
END CASE;
RETURN NULL;
END
Following are a couple of example invocations with result and explanation:
SELECT simple_case(0); -- zero
SELECT simple_case(1); -- one
SELECT simple_case(-1); -- other (from else clause)
SELECT simple_case(10); -- ten
SELECT simple_case(11); -- other (from else clause)
SELECT simple_case(20); -- twenty
SELECT simple_case(100); -- other (from else clause)
SELECT simple_case(null); -- null .. but really??
A second example of a routine with a CASE
statement, this time with two
parameters, showcasing the importance of the order of the conditions.
FUNCTION search_case(a bigint, b bigint)
RETURNS varchar
BEGIN
CASE
WHEN a = 0 THEN RETURN 'zero';
WHEN b = 1 THEN RETURN 'one';
WHEN a = DECIMAL '10.0' THEN RETURN 'ten';
WHEN b = 20.0E0 THEN RETURN 'twenty';
ELSE RETURN 'other';
END CASE;
RETURN NULL;
END
Following are a couple of example invocations with result and explanation:
SELECT search_case(0,0); -- zero
SELECT search_case(1,1); -- one
SELECT search_case(0,1); -- zero (not one since the second check is never reached)
SELECT search_case(10,1); -- one (not ten since the third check is never reached)
SELECT search_case(10,2); -- ten
SELECT search_case(10,20); -- ten (not twenty)
SELECT search_case(0,20); -- zero (not twenty)
SELECT search_case(3,20); -- twenty
SELECT search_case(3,21); -- other
SELECT simple_case(null,null); -- null .. but really??
Fibonacci example#
This routine calculates the n
-th value in the Fibonacci series, in which each
number is the sum of the two preceding ones. The two initial values are set
to 1
as the defaults for a
and b
. The routine uses an IF
statement
condition to return 1
for all input values of 2
or less. The WHILE
block
then starts to calculate each number in the series, starting with a=1
and
b=1
and iterates until it reaches the n
-th position. In each iteration is
sets a
and b
for the preceding to values, so it can calculate the sum, and
finally return it. Note that processing the routine takes longer and longer with
higher n
values, and the result is deterministic.
FUNCTION fib(n bigint)
RETURNS bigint
BEGIN
DECLARE a, b bigint DEFAULT 1;
DECLARE c bigint;
IF n <= 2 THEN
RETURN 1;
END IF;
WHILE n > 2 DO
SET n = n - 1;
SET c = a + b;
SET a = b;
SET b = c;
END WHILE;
RETURN c;
END
Following are a couple of example invocations with result and explanation:
SELECT fib(-1); -- 1
SELECT fib(0); -- 1
SELECT fib(1); -- 1
SELECT fib(2); -- 1
SELECT fib(3); -- 2
SELECT fib(4); -- 3
SELECT fib(5); -- 5
SELECT fib(6); -- 8
SELECT fib(7); -- 13
SELECT fib(8); -- 21
Labels and loops#
This routine uses the top
label to name the WHILE
block, and then controls
the flow with conditional statements, ITERATE
, and LEAVE
. For the values of
a=1
and a=2
in the first two iterations of the loop the ITERATE
call moves
the flow up to top
before b
is ever increased. Then b
is increased for the
values a=3
, a=4
, a=5
, a=6
, and a=7
, resulting in b=5
. The LEAVE
call then causes the exit of the block before a is increased further to 10
and
therefore the result of the routine is 5
.
FUNCTION labels()
RETURNS bigint
BEGIN
DECLARE a, b int DEFAULT 0;
top: WHILE a < 10 DO
SET a = a + 1;
IF a < 3 THEN
ITERATE top;
END IF;
SET b = b + 1;
IF a > 6 THEN
LEAVE top;
END IF;
END WHILE;
RETURN b;
END
This routine implements calculating the n
to the power of p
by repeated
multiplication and keeping track of the number of multiplications performed.
Note that this routine does not return the correct 0
for p=0
since the top
block is merely escaped and the value of n
is returned. The same incorrect
behavior happens for negative values of p
:
FUNCTION power(n int, p int)
RETURNS int
BEGIN
DECLARE r int DEFAULT n;
top: LOOP
IF p <= 1 THEN
LEAVE top;
END IF;
SET r = r * n;
SET p = p - 1;
END LOOP;
RETURN r;
END
Following are a couple of example invocations with result and explanation:
SELECT power(2, 2); -- 4
SELECT power(2, 8); -- 256
SELECT power(3, 3); -- 256
SELECT power(3, 0); -- 3, which is wrong
SELECT power(3, -2); -- 3, which is wrong
This routine returns 7
as a result of the increase of b
in the loop from
a=3
to a=10
:
FUNCTION test_repeat_continue()
RETURNS bigint
BEGIN
DECLARE a int DEFAULT 0;
DECLARE b int DEFAULT 0;
top: REPEAT
SET a = a + 1;
IF a <= 3 THEN
ITERATE top;
END IF;
SET b = b + 1;
UNTIL a >= 10
END REPEAT;
RETURN b;
END
This routine returns 2
and shows that labels can be repeated and label usage
within a block refers to the label of that block:
FUNCTION test()
RETURNS int
BEGIN
DECLARE r int DEFAULT 0;
abc: LOOP
SET r = r + 1;
LEAVE abc;
END LOOP;
abc: LOOP
SET r = r + 1;
LEAVE abc;
END LOOP;
RETURN r;
END
Routines and built-in functions#
This routine show that multiple data types and built-in functions like
length()
and cardinality()
can be used in a routine. The two nested BEGIN
blocks also show how variable names are local within these blocks x
, but the
global r
from the top-level block can be accessed in the nested blocks:
FUNCTION test()
RETURNS bigint
BEGIN
DECLARE r bigint DEFAULT 0;
BEGIN
DECLARE x varchar DEFAULT 'hello';
SET r = r + length(x);
END;
BEGIN
DECLARE x array(int) DEFAULT array[1, 2, 3];
SET r = r + cardinality(x);
END;
RETURN r;
END