"query has no destination for result data" in PL/PgSQL function - postgresql

Question

I need to show the Tree_Nodes table data
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION sample()
RETURNS TABLE() AS
$BODY$
BEGIN
select * from "Tree_Nodes";
END;
$BODY$
LANGUAGE plpgsql VOLATILE
COST 100
ROWS 1000;
ALTER FUNCTION sample()
OWNER TO postgres;
It fails with:
ERROR: query has no destination for result data
Avoid the error and i will get the table column format in all data

Answer 1

To return the result of a SELECT, a pure SQL function is much more suitable:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION sample()
RETURNS TABLE ( .... ) AS
$BODY$
select * from "Tree_Nodes";
$BODY$
LANGUAGE sql;
Or if you really need PL/pgSQL, you need to use return query (which is clearly documented in the manual)
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION sample()
RETURNS TABLE (....)
AS
$BODY$
BEGIN
return query select * from "Tree_Nodes";
END;
$BODY$
LANGUAGE plpgsql;
But you cannot just specify returns table() you have to also define the structure of the result:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION sample()
RETURNS TABLE(id integer, some_column text, other_column decimal(10,2), ...)
AS

Answer 2

The exact error you quote is caused by using SELECT without an INTO clause in PL/PgSQL. You must either use SELECT INTO somevariable, use RETURN QUERY, if you want to discard the data, use the PERFORM statement instead of SELECT, as covered by the PL/PgSQL manual.
Once you fix that by using RETURN QUERY SELECT .... you'll find that the function still doesn't work, because RETURNS TABLE() doesn't make sense. You're returning an empty result set. It'll fail, complaining that the statement is returning a result set that doesn't match the function.
It makes no sense to do this anyway, since you can just write it as a trivial SQL function like:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION sample()
RETURNS SETOF "Tree_Nodes"
AS $$
SELECT * FROM "Tree_Nodes";
$$ LANGUAGE sql;
This function appears to serve no purpose. What are you trying to achieve with it?
(By the way, you should generally avoid SELECT * in production code. List the columns. That way, if you add a column later, things that use the table won't suddenly stop working.)