PostgreSQL 8.2.6 Documentation
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39.6. PL/Perl Triggers

PL/Perl can be used to write trigger functions. In a trigger function, the hash reference $_TD contains information about the current trigger event. $_TD is a global variable, which gets a separate local value for each invocation of the trigger. The fields of the $_TD hash reference are:

$_TD->{new}{foo}

NEW value of column foo

$_TD->{old}{foo}

OLD value of column foo

$_TD->{name}

Name of the trigger being called

$_TD->{event}

Trigger event: INSERT , UPDATE , DELETE , or UNKNOWN

$_TD->{when}

When the trigger was called: BEFORE , AFTER , or UNKNOWN

$_TD->{level}

The trigger level: ROW , STATEMENT , or UNKNOWN

$_TD->{relid}

OID of the table on which the trigger fired

$_TD->{table_name}

Name of the table on which the trigger fired

$_TD->{relname}

Name of the table on which the trigger fired. This has been deprecated, and could be removed in a future release. Please use $_TD->{table_name} instead.

$_TD->{table_schema}

Name of the schema in which the table on which the trigger fired, is

$_TD->{argc}

Number of arguments of the trigger function

@{$_TD->{args}}

Arguments of the trigger function. Does not exist if $_TD->{argc} is 0.

Triggers can return one of the following:

return;

Execute the statement

"SKIP"

Don't execute the statement

"MODIFY"

Indicates that the NEW row was modified by the trigger function

Here is an example of a trigger function, illustrating some of the above:

CREATE TABLE test ( i int, v varchar ); CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION valid_id() RETURNS trigger AS $$ if (($_TD->{new}{i} >= 100) || ($_TD->{new}{i} <= 0)) { return "SKIP"; # skip INSERT/UPDATE command } elsif ($_TD->{new}{v} ne "immortal") { $_TD->{new}{v} .= "(modified by trigger)"; return "MODIFY"; # modify row and execute INSERT/UPDATE command } else { return; # execute INSERT/UPDATE command } $$ LANGUAGE plperl; CREATE TRIGGER test_valid_id_trig BEFORE INSERT OR UPDATE ON test FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE PROCEDURE valid_id();

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