Difficulties using Postgresql's EXTRACT tool via function call - postgresql

Question

I'm trying to figure out how to use the Postgresql EXTRACT function to convert a given date_variable into its equivalent day of the week. I understand that it will convert the date_variable into a numbering from 0 - 6 (0 is Sunday, 6 is Saturday etc)
I've created a simple table to test my queries. Here I will attempt to convert the start_date into its DOW equivalent.
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS test;
CREATE TABLE test(
start_date date PRIMARY KEY,
end_date date
);
INSERT INTO test (start_date, end_date) VALUES ('2021-03-31', '2021-03-31'); -- Today (wed), hence 3
INSERT INTO test (start_date, end_date) VALUES ('2021-03-30', '2021-03-30'); -- Yesterday (tues), hence 2
INSERT INTO test (start_date, end_date) VALUES ('2021-03-29', '2021-03-29'); -- Day before (mon), hence 1
If I were to run the query below
SELECT (EXTRACT(DOW FROM t.start_date)) AS day FROM test t;
It works fine, and returns the result as intended (returns a single column table with values (3, 2, 1) respectively.)
However, when I attempt to write a function to return the exact same query
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION get_day()
RETURNS TABLE (day integer) AS $$
BEGIN
RETURN QUERY
SELECT (EXTRACT(DOW FROM t.start_date)) as day
FROM test t;
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
SELECT * FROM get_day(); -- throws error "structure of query does not match function result type"
I get an error instead. I cant seem to find the issue and don't know what is causing it.

Answer 1

extract() returns a double precision value, but your function is declared to return an integer. You need to cast the value:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION get_day()
RETURNS TABLE (day integer) AS $$
BEGIN
RETURN QUERY
SELECT EXTRACT(DOW FROM t.start_date)::int as day
FROM test t;
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
But you don't really need PL/pgSQL for this, a language SQL function would also work.
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION get_day()
RETURNS TABLE (day integer) AS $$
SELECT EXTRACT(DOW FROM t.start_date)::int as day
FROM test t;
$$
LANGUAGE sql
stable;
As you are not passing any parameters, I would actually use a view for this:
create or replace view day_view
AS
SELECT EXTRACT(DOW FROM t.start_date)::int as day
FROM test t;

Answer 2

The extract function returns values of type double precision.
You declare result to be integer.
You should cast the result of EXTRACT to integer:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION get_day()
RETURNS TABLE (day integer) AS $$
BEGIN
RETURN QUERY
SELECT EXTRACT(DOW FROM t.start_date)::integer as day
FROM test t;
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;