PostgreSQL 8.3.1 Documentation
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# 41.3. Database Access

The PL/Python language module automatically imports a Python module called `plpy`. The functions and constants in this module are available to you in the Python code as `plpy.`foo``. At present `plpy` implements the functions `plpy.debug(`msg`)`, `plpy.log(`msg`)`, `plpy.info(`msg`)`, `plpy.notice(`msg`)`, `plpy.warning(`msg`)`, `plpy.error(`msg`)`, and `plpy.fatal(`msg`)`. `plpy.error` and `plpy.fatal` actually raise a Python exception which, if uncaught, propagates out to the calling query, causing the current transaction or subtransaction to be aborted. `raise plpy.ERROR(`msg`)` and `raise plpy.FATAL(`msg`)` are equivalent to calling `plpy.error` and `plpy.fatal`, respectively. The other functions only generate messages of different priority levels. Whether messages of a particular priority are reported to the client, written to the server log, or both is controlled by the log_min_messages and client_min_messages configuration variables. See Chapter 18 for more information.

Additionally, the `plpy` module provides two functions called `execute` and `prepare`. Calling `plpy.execute` with a query string and an optional limit argument causes that query to be run and the result to be returned in a result object. The result object emulates a list or dictionary object. The result object can be accessed by row number and column name. It has these additional methods: `nrows` which returns the number of rows returned by the query, and `status` which is the `SPI_execute()` return value. The result object can be modified.

For example:

    rv = plpy.execute("SELECT * FROM my_table", 5)

returns up to 5 rows from `my_table`. If `my_table` has a column `my_column`, it would be accessed as:

    foo = rv[i]["my_column"]

The second function, `plpy.prepare`, prepares the execution plan for a query. It is called with a query string and a list of parameter types, if you have parameter references in the query. For example:

    plan = plpy.prepare("SELECT last_name FROM my_users WHERE first_name = $1", [ "text" ])

`text` is the type of the variable you will be passing for `$1`. After preparing a statement, you use the function `plpy.execute` to run it:

    rv = plpy.execute(plan, [ "name" ], 5)

The third argument is the limit and is optional.

When you prepare a plan using the PL/Python module it is automatically saved. Read the SPI documentation (Chapter 42) for a description of what this means. In order to make effective use of this across function calls one needs to use one of the persistent storage dictionaries `SD` or `GD` (see Section 41.1). For example:

    CREATE FUNCTION usesavedplan() RETURNS trigger AS $$
        if SD.has_key("plan"):
            plan = SD["plan"]
        else:
            plan = plpy.prepare("SELECT 1")
            SD["plan"] = plan
        # rest of function
    $$ LANGUAGE plpythonu;

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