PostgreSQL: How to use SELECT statement within CASE expression in function? - postgresql

Question

Can we able to use SELECT statement within CASE conditional expression in function?
I have tried the following function to accomplish the above task.
Example: I have a function which is used to display table containing some rows.
create or replace function test(n integer)
returns table (name text,city text) as
$body$
begin
case n when 1 then
select * from table1
when 2 then
select * from table2
when 3 then
select * from view1
end;
end;
$body$
language plpgsql;
--Calling function
select * from test(1);
/*have to show details of table1*/
select * from test(2);
/*have to show details of table2*/
select * from test(3);
/*have to display details of view1*/

Answer 1

Actually, there is a plpgsql CASE statement, not to be confused with the SQL CASE expression:
CREATE OR REPLACE function test(n integer)
RETURNS TABLE (name text, city text) AS
$func$
BEGIN
CASE n
WHEN 1 THEN
RETURN QUERY SELECT t.name, t.city FROM table1 t;
WHEN 2 THEN
RETURN QUERY SELECT t.foo, t.bar FROM table2 t;
WHEN 3 THEN
RETURN QUERY SELECT t.bar, t.bamm FROM view1 t;
END CASE;
END
$func$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
If you declare your function as RETURNS TABLE (name text, city text), then your SELECT statements should have a column list with matching types.
If on the other hand you want to SELECT *, declare the function as RETURNS SETOF table1 accordingly.
When naming columns in the return type, those variable are visible in the function body. Be sure to table-qualify column names that would conflict with same names. So t.name instead of just name.
Column names from queries inside the function are not visible outside. Only the declared return type. So names don't have to match, just data types.
Either way, I suggest to simplify things:
CREATE OR REPLACE function test(n integer)
RETURNS SETOF table1 AS
$func$
SELECT * FROM table1 t WHERE n = 1
UNION ALL
SELECT * FROM table2 t WHERE n = 2
UNION ALL
SELECT * FROM view1 t WHERE n = 3;
$func$ LANGUAGE sql;
Same result. Just as fast. SQL or PL/pgSQL function is a matter of taste and some other details. PL/pgSQL is probably faster for stand-alone calls. SQL can more easily be nested.

Answer 2

For this you need an IF statement and RETURN QUERY, e.g.
create or replace function test(n integer)
returns table (name text,city text) as
$body$
begin
IF n = 1 THEN
RETURN QUERY select * from table1;
ELIF n = 2 THEN
RETURN QUERY select * from table2;
ELIF n = 3 THEN
RETURN QUERY select * from view1;
END IF;
end;
$body$
language plpgsql;
It's a very weird thing to want to do, though.