How to roll back a transaction on error in PostgreSQL? - postgresql

Question

I'm writing a script for PostgreSQL and since I want it to be executed atomically, I'm wrapping it inside a transaction.
I expected the script to look something like this:
BEGIN
-- 1) Execute some valid actions;
-- 2) Execute some action that causes an error.
EXCEPTION
WHEN OTHERS THEN
ROLLBACK;
END; -- A.k.a. COMMIT;
However, in this case pgAdmin warns me about a syntax error right after the initial BEGIN. If I terminate the command there by appending a semicolon like so: BEGIN; it instead informs me about error near EXCEPTION.
I realize that perhaps I'm mixing up syntax for control structures and transactions, however I couldn't find any mention of how to roll back a failed transaction in the docs (nor in SO for that matter).
I also considered that perhaps the transaction is rolled back automatically on error, but it doesn't seem to be the case since the following script:
BEGIN;
-- 1) Execute some valid actions;
-- 2) Execute some action that causes an error.
COMMIT;
warns me that: ERROR: current transaction is aborted, commands ignored until end of transaction block and I have to then manually ROLLBACK; the transaction.
It seems I'm missing something fundamental here, but what?
EDIT:
I tried using DO as well like so:
DO $$
BEGIN
-- 1) Execute some valid actions;
-- 2) Execute some action that causes an error.
EXCEPTION
WHEN OTHERS THEN
ROLLBACK;
END; $$
pgAdmin hits me back with a: ERROR: cannot begin/end transactions in PL/pgSQL. HINT: Use a BEGIN block with an EXCEPTION clause instead. which confuses me to no end, because that is exactly what I am (I think) doing.
POST-ACCEPT EDIT:
Regarding Laurenz's comment: "Your SQL script would contain a COMMIT. That ends the transaction and rolls it back." - this is not the behavior that I observe. Please consider the following example (which is just a concrete version of an example I already provided in my original question):
BEGIN;
-- Just a simple, self-referencing table.
CREATE TABLE "Dummy" (
"Id" INT GENERATED ALWAYS AS IDENTITY,
"ParentId" INT NULL,
CONSTRAINT "PK_Dummy" PRIMARY KEY ("Id"),
CONSTRAINT "FK_Dummy_Dummy" FOREIGN KEY ("ParentId") REFERENCES "Dummy" ("Id")
);
-- Foreign key violation terminates the transaction.
INSERT INTO "Dummy" ("ParentId")
VALUES (99);
COMMIT;
When I execute the script above, I'm greeted with: ERROR: insert or update on table "Dummy" violates foreign key constraint "FK_Dummy_Dummy". DETAIL: Key (ParentId)=(99) is not present in table "Dummy". which is as expected.
However, if I then try to check whether my Dummy table was created or rolled back like so:
SELECT EXISTS (
SELECT FROM information_schema."tables"
WHERE "table_name" = 'Dummy');
instead of a simple false, I get the same error that I already mentioned twice: ERROR: current transaction is aborted, commands ignored until end of transaction block. Then I have to manually terminate the transaction via issuing ROLLBACK;.
So to me it seems that either the comment mentioned above is false or at least I'm heavily misinterpreting something here.

Answer 1

You cannot use ROLLBACK in PL/pgSQL, except in certain limited cases inside procedures.
You don't need to explicitly roll back in your PL/pgSQL code. Just let the exception propagate out of the PL/pgSQL code, and it will cause an error, which will cause the whole transaction to be rolled back.
Your comments suggest that this code is called from an SQL script. Then the solution would be to have a COMMIT in that SQL script at some place after the PL/pgSQL code. That would end the transaction and roll it back.

Answer 2

I think you must be using an older version, as the exact code from your question works without error for me:
(The above is with PostgreSQL 13.1, and pgAdmin 4.28.)
It also works fine for me, without the exception block:
As per this comment, you can remove the exception block within a function, and if an error occurs, the transaction run within it will automatically be rolled back. That appears to be the case, from my limited testing.