Difference between function and procedure?

Anastasios Hatzis · *nix forums beginner Joined: 04 Apr 2006 Posts: 6

Hi,

I'm diving more into depth of the features outside the typical table
stuff, which I usually need.

I wrote a trigger that fires a function written in PL/Python, both works
fine so far.

But as I browsed my database via pgAdmin3 I recognized that there is
also 'Procedures' under 'public' available, but empty yet. Trying to
create a procedure resulted in the same SQL statement like creating a
function (CREATE FUNCTION ...). I couldn't see any difference. Also
didn't find in the PostgreSQL manual if there is a difference between
functions and procedures. Are there any at all?

Anastasios

PS: Using PostgreSQL 8.1.3 on Windows XP development machine.

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Merlin Moncure · *nix forums addict Joined: 19 Oct 2005 Posts: 87

On 7/19/06, Anastasios Hatzis <ahatzis@gmx.net> wrote:

Anastasios Hatzis · *nix forums beginner Joined: 04 Apr 2006 Posts: 6

Merlin Moncure wrote:

Paul S · *nix forums beginner Joined: 20 Jul 2006 Posts: 1

I saw the same behavior with Functions and Procedures. At first, I could
not tell what made one go into the Function folder and one go into the
Procedure one. The one thing that clearly distinguishes a Procedure (to be
placed into the Procedures folder in PgAdminIII) is if you include an OUT
parameter. The first time I wrote a Function with an OUT parameter, I could
not find it in the functions folder. I thought at first that it didn't
compile. Then I noticed it in the Procedures folder. Probably a lot of
other characteristics that make it different, but that is at least one. :)

-Paul

On 7/19/06, Anastasios Hatzis <ahatzis@gmx.net> wrote:

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