PL/pgSQL Row Types

Summary: in this tutorial, you will learn how to use the PL/pgSQL row types to declare row variables that hold a complete row of a result set.

Introduction to PL/pgSQL row types

Row variables or row-type variables are variables of composite types that can store the entire rows of a result set.

These row variables can hold the entire row returned by the select into or for statement.

Here’s the syntax for declaring a row variable:

row_variable table_name%ROWTYPE;
row_variable view_name%ROWTYPE;

In this syntax:

First, specify the variable name.
Second, provide the name of a table or view followed by % and ROWTYPE.

To access the individual field of a row variable, you use the dot notation (.) as follows:

row_variable.field_name

PL/pgSQL row-type variable example

We’ll use the actor table from the sample database to show how row types work:

The following example retrieve the row with id 1 from the actor table and assign it to a row variable:

do
$$
declare
   selected_actor actor%rowtype;
begin
   -- select actor with id 10
   select *
   from actor
   into selected_actor
   where actor_id = 10;

   -- show the number of actor
   raise notice 'The actor name is % %',
      selected_actor.first_name,
      selected_actor.last_name;
end;
$$;

How it works.

First, declare a row variable called selected_actor with the same type as the row in the actor table.
Second, assign the row whose value in the actor_id column is 10 to the selected_actor variable using the select into statement.
Third, show the first and last names of the selected actor using the raise notice statement.

Summary

Use row type variables (%ROWTYPE) to hold a row of a result set returned by the select into statement.