PL/pgSQL (Procedural Language/PostgreSQL Structured Query Language) is a procedural language supported by the PostgreSQL RDBMS. It closely resembles Oracle_database PL/SQL language.

PL/pgSQL, as a true programming language, allows much more control than basic SQL, including the ability to use loops and advanced control structures. Programs created in the PL/pgSQL language are called functions, and can be called as part of a SQL statement, or as the action that a triggers performs.

The design goals of PL/pgSQL were to create a loadable procedural language that:

PL/pgSQL is the only PL language installed by default for PostgreSQL, but many others are available, including [http://gborg.postgresql.org/project/pljava/projdisplay.php PL/Java], [http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/interactive/plperl.html PL/Perl], [http://plphp.commandprompt.com/ plPHP], [http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/interactive/plpython.html PL/Python], [http://www.joeconway.com/plr/ PL/R], [http://raa.ruby-lang.org/list.rhtmlname=pl-ruby PL/Ruby], [http://developer.postgresql.org/~petere/pgplsh/ PL/sh], and [http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/interactive/pltcl.html PL/Tcl].

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