Question

I have a cron job that executes a plpgsql function in postgres. This function inserts zero to many records into table. What’s the best way to also return the records that have been created by the function as it’s result?

I’m using PostgreSQL 9.1

Answer 1

Luckily that can be done rather easily. Say, you are inserting into table insert_tbl …

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION f_ins_return()
  RETURNS SETOF insert_tbl AS
$func$
BEGIN

RETURN QUERY
INSERT INTO insert_tbl
SELECT * FROM othertable LIMIT 3 -- or where ever your rows come from ...
RETURNING *;

END
$func$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;

Call:

SELECT * FROM f_ins_return();

Key elements:

RETURNS SETOF insert_tbl
RETURN QUERY
RETURNING *