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2 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>41.8. Transaction Management</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css" /><link rev="made" href="pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org" /><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot" /><link rel="prev" href="plpgsql-cursors.html" title="41.7. Cursors" /><link rel="next" href="plpgsql-errors-and-messages.html" title="41.9. Errors and Messages" /></head><body id="docContent" class="container-fluid col-10"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="5" align="center">41.8. Transaction Management</th></tr><tr><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="plpgsql-cursors.html" title="41.7. Cursors">Prev</a> </td><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="u" href="plpgsql.html" title="Chapter 41. PL/pgSQL — SQL Procedural Language">Up</a></td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 41. <span class="application">PL/pgSQL</span> — <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> Procedural Language</th><td width="10%" align="right"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 18.0 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="10%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="plpgsql-errors-and-messages.html" title="41.9. Errors and Messages">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr /></div><div class="sect1" id="PLPGSQL-TRANSACTIONS"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">41.8. Transaction Management <a href="#PLPGSQL-TRANSACTIONS" class="id_link">#</a></h2></div></div></div><p>
3 In procedures invoked by the <code class="command">CALL</code> command
4 as well as in anonymous code blocks (<code class="command">DO</code> command),
5 it is possible to end transactions using the
6 commands <code class="command">COMMIT</code> and <code class="command">ROLLBACK</code>. A new
7 transaction is started automatically after a transaction is ended using
8 these commands, so there is no separate <code class="command">START
9 TRANSACTION</code> command. (Note that <code class="command">BEGIN</code> and
10 <code class="command">END</code> have different meanings in PL/pgSQL.)
12 Here is a simple example:
13 </p><pre class="programlisting">
14 CREATE PROCEDURE transaction_test1()
19 INSERT INTO test1 (a) VALUES (i);
29 CALL transaction_test1();
31 </p><a id="id-1.8.8.10.4" class="indexterm"></a><p id="PLPGSQL-TRANSACTION-CHAIN">
32 A new transaction starts out with default transaction characteristics such
33 as transaction isolation level. In cases where transactions are committed
34 in a loop, it might be desirable to start new transactions automatically
35 with the same characteristics as the previous one. The commands
36 <code class="command">COMMIT AND CHAIN</code> and <code class="command">ROLLBACK AND
37 CHAIN</code> accomplish this.
39 Transaction control is only possible in <code class="command">CALL</code> or
40 <code class="command">DO</code> invocations from the top level or nested
41 <code class="command">CALL</code> or <code class="command">DO</code> invocations without any
42 other intervening command. For example, if the call stack is
43 <code class="command">CALL proc1()</code> → <code class="command">CALL proc2()</code>
44 → <code class="command">CALL proc3()</code>, then the second and third
45 procedures can perform transaction control actions. But if the call stack
46 is <code class="command">CALL proc1()</code> → <code class="command">SELECT
47 func2()</code> → <code class="command">CALL proc3()</code>, then the last
48 procedure cannot do transaction control, because of the
49 <code class="command">SELECT</code> in between.
51 <span class="application">PL/pgSQL</span> does not support savepoints
52 (<code class="command">SAVEPOINT</code>/<code class="command">ROLLBACK TO
53 SAVEPOINT</code>/<code class="command">RELEASE SAVEPOINT</code> commands).
54 Typical usage patterns for savepoints can be replaced by blocks with
55 exception handlers (see <a class="xref" href="plpgsql-control-structures.html#PLPGSQL-ERROR-TRAPPING" title="41.6.8. Trapping Errors">Section 41.6.8</a>).
56 Under the hood, a block with exception handlers forms a
57 subtransaction, which means that transactions cannot be ended inside
60 Special considerations apply to cursor loops. Consider this example:
61 </p><pre class="programlisting">
62 CREATE PROCEDURE transaction_test2()
68 FOR r IN SELECT * FROM test2 ORDER BY x LOOP
69 INSERT INTO test1 (a) VALUES (r.x);
75 CALL transaction_test2();
77 Normally, cursors are automatically closed at transaction commit.
78 However, a cursor created as part of a loop like this is automatically
79 converted to a holdable cursor by the first <code class="command">COMMIT</code> or
80 <code class="command">ROLLBACK</code>. That means that the cursor is fully
81 evaluated at the first <code class="command">COMMIT</code> or
82 <code class="command">ROLLBACK</code> rather than row by row. The cursor is still
83 removed automatically after the loop, so this is mostly invisible to the
84 user. But one must keep in mind that any table or row locks taken by
85 the cursor's query will no longer be held after the
86 first <code class="command">COMMIT</code> or
87 <code class="command">ROLLBACK</code>.
89 Transaction commands are not allowed in cursor loops driven by commands
90 that are not read-only (for example <code class="command">UPDATE
91 ... RETURNING</code>).
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