PL/Perl Triggers
| PostgreSQL 9.6.15 Documentation | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Prev | Up | Chapter 43. PL/Perl - Perl Procedural Language | Next | 
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 , TRUNCATE , or UNKNOWN
 - $_TD->{when}
 - 
    
When the trigger was called: BEFORE , AFTER , INSTEAD OF , 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.
 
Row-level triggers can return one of the following:
- return;
 - 
    
Execute the operation
 - "SKIP"
 - 
    
Don't execute the operation
 - "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();