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Commit 0f79440fb introduced mechanism to keep AFTER STATEMENT triggers
from firing more than once per statement, which was formerly possible
if more than one FK enforcement action had to be applied to a given
table. Add a similar mechanism for BEFORE STATEMENT triggers, so that
we don't have the unexpected situation of firing BEFORE STATEMENT
triggers more often than AFTER STATEMENT.
As with the previous patch, back-patch to v10.
Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/22315.1505584992@sss.pgh.pa.us
717 lines
27 KiB
Plaintext
717 lines
27 KiB
Plaintext
<!--
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doc/src/sgml/ref/create_trigger.sgml
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PostgreSQL documentation
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-->
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<refentry id="SQL-CREATETRIGGER">
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<indexterm zone="sql-createtrigger">
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<primary>CREATE TRIGGER</primary>
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</indexterm>
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<indexterm>
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<primary>transition tables</primary>
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<seealso>ephemeral named relation</seealso>
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</indexterm>
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<refmeta>
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<refentrytitle>CREATE TRIGGER</refentrytitle>
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<manvolnum>7</manvolnum>
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<refmiscinfo>SQL - Language Statements</refmiscinfo>
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</refmeta>
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<refnamediv>
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<refname>CREATE TRIGGER</refname>
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<refpurpose>define a new trigger</refpurpose>
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</refnamediv>
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<refsynopsisdiv>
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<synopsis>
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CREATE [ CONSTRAINT ] TRIGGER <replaceable class="PARAMETER">name</replaceable> { BEFORE | AFTER | INSTEAD OF } { <replaceable class="PARAMETER">event</replaceable> [ OR ... ] }
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ON <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table_name</replaceable>
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[ FROM <replaceable class="parameter">referenced_table_name</replaceable> ]
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[ NOT DEFERRABLE | [ DEFERRABLE ] [ INITIALLY IMMEDIATE | INITIALLY DEFERRED ] ]
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[ REFERENCING { { OLD | NEW } TABLE [ AS ] <replaceable class="PARAMETER">transition_relation_name</replaceable> } [ ... ] ]
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[ FOR [ EACH ] { ROW | STATEMENT } ]
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[ WHEN ( <replaceable class="parameter">condition</replaceable> ) ]
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EXECUTE PROCEDURE <replaceable class="PARAMETER">function_name</replaceable> ( <replaceable class="PARAMETER">arguments</replaceable> )
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<phrase>where <replaceable class="parameter">event</replaceable> can be one of:</phrase>
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INSERT
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UPDATE [ OF <replaceable class="parameter">column_name</replaceable> [, ... ] ]
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DELETE
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TRUNCATE
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</synopsis>
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</refsynopsisdiv>
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<refsect1>
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<title>Description</title>
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<para>
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<command>CREATE TRIGGER</command> creates a new trigger. The
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trigger will be associated with the specified table, view, or foreign table
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and will execute the specified
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function <replaceable class="parameter">function_name</replaceable> when
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certain operations are performed on that table.
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</para>
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<para>
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The trigger can be specified to fire before the
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operation is attempted on a row (before constraints are checked and
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the <command>INSERT</command>, <command>UPDATE</command>, or
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<command>DELETE</command> is attempted); or after the operation has
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completed (after constraints are checked and the
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<command>INSERT</command>, <command>UPDATE</command>, or
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<command>DELETE</command> has completed); or instead of the operation
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(in the case of inserts, updates or deletes on a view).
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If the trigger fires before or instead of the event, the trigger can skip
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the operation for the current row, or change the row being inserted (for
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<command>INSERT</command> and <command>UPDATE</command> operations
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only). If the trigger fires after the event, all changes, including
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the effects of other triggers, are <quote>visible</quote>
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to the trigger.
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</para>
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<para>
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A trigger that is marked <literal>FOR EACH ROW</literal> is called
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once for every row that the operation modifies. For example, a
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<command>DELETE</command> that affects 10 rows will cause any
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<literal>ON DELETE</literal> triggers on the target relation to be
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called 10 separate times, once for each deleted row. In contrast, a
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trigger that is marked <literal>FOR EACH STATEMENT</literal> only
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executes once for any given operation, regardless of how many rows
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it modifies (in particular, an operation that modifies zero rows
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will still result in the execution of any applicable <literal>FOR
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EACH STATEMENT</literal> triggers).
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</para>
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<para>
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Triggers that are specified to fire <literal>INSTEAD OF</> the trigger
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event must be marked <literal>FOR EACH ROW</>, and can only be defined
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on views. <literal>BEFORE</> and <literal>AFTER</> triggers on a view
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must be marked as <literal>FOR EACH STATEMENT</>.
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</para>
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<para>
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In addition, triggers may be defined to fire for
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<command>TRUNCATE</command>, though only
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<literal>FOR EACH STATEMENT</literal>.
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</para>
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<para>
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The following table summarizes which types of triggers may be used on
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tables, views, and foreign tables:
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</para>
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<informaltable id="supported-trigger-types">
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<tgroup cols="4">
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<thead>
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<row>
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<entry>When</entry>
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<entry>Event</entry>
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<entry>Row-level</entry>
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<entry>Statement-level</entry>
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</row>
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</thead>
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<tbody>
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<row>
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<entry align="center" morerows="1"><literal>BEFORE</></entry>
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<entry align="center"><command>INSERT</>/<command>UPDATE</>/<command>DELETE</></entry>
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<entry align="center">Tables and foreign tables</entry>
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<entry align="center">Tables, views, and foreign tables</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry align="center"><command>TRUNCATE</></entry>
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<entry align="center">—</entry>
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<entry align="center">Tables</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry align="center" morerows="1"><literal>AFTER</></entry>
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<entry align="center"><command>INSERT</>/<command>UPDATE</>/<command>DELETE</></entry>
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<entry align="center">Tables and foreign tables</entry>
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<entry align="center">Tables, views, and foreign tables</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry align="center"><command>TRUNCATE</></entry>
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<entry align="center">—</entry>
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<entry align="center">Tables</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry align="center" morerows="1"><literal>INSTEAD OF</></entry>
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<entry align="center"><command>INSERT</>/<command>UPDATE</>/<command>DELETE</></entry>
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<entry align="center">Views</entry>
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<entry align="center">—</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry align="center"><command>TRUNCATE</></entry>
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<entry align="center">—</entry>
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<entry align="center">—</entry>
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</row>
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</tbody>
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</tgroup>
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</informaltable>
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<para>
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Also, a trigger definition can specify a Boolean <literal>WHEN</>
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condition, which will be tested to see whether the trigger should
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be fired. In row-level triggers the <literal>WHEN</> condition can
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examine the old and/or new values of columns of the row. Statement-level
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triggers can also have <literal>WHEN</> conditions, although the feature
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is not so useful for them since the condition cannot refer to any values
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in the table.
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</para>
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<para>
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If multiple triggers of the same kind are defined for the same event,
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they will be fired in alphabetical order by name.
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</para>
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<para>
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When the <literal>CONSTRAINT</> option is specified, this command creates a
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<firstterm>constraint trigger</>. This is the same as a regular trigger
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except that the timing of the trigger firing can be adjusted using
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<xref linkend="SQL-SET-CONSTRAINTS">.
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Constraint triggers must be <literal>AFTER ROW</> triggers on plain
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tables (not foreign tables). They
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can be fired either at the end of the statement causing the triggering
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event, or at the end of the containing transaction; in the latter case they
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are said to be <firstterm>deferred</>. A pending deferred-trigger firing
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can also be forced to happen immediately by using <command>SET
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CONSTRAINTS</>. Constraint triggers are expected to raise an exception
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when the constraints they implement are violated.
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</para>
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<para>
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The <literal>REFERENCING</> option enables collection
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of <firstterm>transition relations</>, which are row sets that include all
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of the rows inserted, deleted, or modified by the current SQL statement.
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This feature lets the trigger see a global view of what the statement did,
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not just one row at a time. This option is only allowed for
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an <literal>AFTER</> trigger that is not a constraint trigger; also, if
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the trigger is an <literal>UPDATE</> trigger, it must not specify
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a <replaceable class="parameter">column_name</replaceable> list.
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<literal>OLD TABLE</> may only be specified once, and only for a trigger
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that can fire on <literal>UPDATE</> or <literal>DELETE</>; it creates a
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transition relation containing the <firstterm>before-images</> of all rows
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updated or deleted by the statement.
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Similarly, <literal>NEW TABLE</> may only be specified once, and only for
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a trigger that can fire on <literal>UPDATE</> or <literal>INSERT</>;
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it creates a transition relation containing the <firstterm>after-images</>
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of all rows updated or inserted by the statement.
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</para>
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<para>
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<command>SELECT</command> does not modify any rows so you cannot
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create <command>SELECT</command> triggers. Rules and views may provide
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workable solutions to problems that seem to need <command>SELECT</command>
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triggers.
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</para>
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<para>
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Refer to <xref linkend="triggers"> for more information about triggers.
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</para>
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</refsect1>
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<refsect1>
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<title>Parameters</title>
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<variablelist>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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The name to give the new trigger. This must be distinct from
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the name of any other trigger for the same table.
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The name cannot be schema-qualified — the trigger inherits the
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schema of its table. For a constraint trigger, this is also the name to
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use when modifying the trigger's behavior using
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<command>SET CONSTRAINTS</>.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><literal>BEFORE</literal></term>
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<term><literal>AFTER</literal></term>
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<term><literal>INSTEAD OF</literal></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Determines whether the function is called before, after, or instead of
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the event. A constraint trigger can only be specified as
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<literal>AFTER</>.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><replaceable class="parameter">event</replaceable></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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One of <literal>INSERT</literal>, <literal>UPDATE</literal>,
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<literal>DELETE</literal>, or <literal>TRUNCATE</literal>;
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this specifies the event that will fire the trigger. Multiple
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events can be specified using <literal>OR</literal>, except when
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transition relations are requested.
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</para>
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<para>
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For <literal>UPDATE</literal> events, it is possible to
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specify a list of columns using this syntax:
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<synopsis>
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UPDATE OF <replaceable>column_name1</replaceable> [, <replaceable>column_name2</replaceable> ... ]
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</synopsis>
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The trigger will only fire if at least one of the listed columns
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is mentioned as a target of the <command>UPDATE</> command.
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</para>
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<para>
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<literal>INSTEAD OF UPDATE</> events do not allow a list of columns.
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A column list cannot be specified when requesting transition relations,
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either.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><replaceable class="parameter">table_name</replaceable></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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The name (optionally schema-qualified) of the table, view, or foreign
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table the trigger is for.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><replaceable class="PARAMETER">referenced_table_name</replaceable></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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The (possibly schema-qualified) name of another table referenced by the
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constraint. This option is used for foreign-key constraints and is not
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recommended for general use. This can only be specified for
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constraint triggers.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><literal>DEFERRABLE</literal></term>
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<term><literal>NOT DEFERRABLE</literal></term>
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<term><literal>INITIALLY IMMEDIATE</literal></term>
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<term><literal>INITIALLY DEFERRED</literal></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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The default timing of the trigger.
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See the <xref linkend="SQL-CREATETABLE"> documentation for details of
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these constraint options. This can only be specified for constraint
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triggers.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><literal>REFERENCING</literal></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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This keyword immediately precedes the declaration of one or two
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relation names that provide access to the transition relations of the
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triggering statement.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><literal>OLD TABLE</literal></term>
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<term><literal>NEW TABLE</literal></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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This clause indicates whether the following relation name is for the
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before-image transition relation or the after-image transition
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relation.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><replaceable class="PARAMETER">transition_relation_name</replaceable></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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The (unqualified) name to be used within the trigger for this
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transition relation.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><literal>FOR EACH ROW</literal></term>
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<term><literal>FOR EACH STATEMENT</literal></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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This specifies whether the trigger procedure should be fired
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once for every row affected by the trigger event, or just once
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per SQL statement. If neither is specified, <literal>FOR EACH
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STATEMENT</literal> is the default. Constraint triggers can only
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be specified <literal>FOR EACH ROW</>.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><replaceable class="parameter">condition</replaceable></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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A Boolean expression that determines whether the trigger function
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will actually be executed. If <literal>WHEN</> is specified, the
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function will only be called if the <replaceable
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class="parameter">condition</replaceable> returns <literal>true</>.
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In <literal>FOR EACH ROW</literal> triggers, the <literal>WHEN</>
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condition can refer to columns of the old and/or new row values
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by writing <literal>OLD.<replaceable
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class="parameter">column_name</replaceable></literal> or
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<literal>NEW.<replaceable
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class="parameter">column_name</replaceable></literal> respectively.
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Of course, <literal>INSERT</> triggers cannot refer to <literal>OLD</>
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and <literal>DELETE</> triggers cannot refer to <literal>NEW</>.
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</para>
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<para><literal>INSTEAD OF</> triggers do not support <literal>WHEN</>
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conditions.
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</para>
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<para>
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Currently, <literal>WHEN</literal> expressions cannot contain
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subqueries.
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</para>
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<para>
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Note that for constraint triggers, evaluation of the <literal>WHEN</>
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condition is not deferred, but occurs immediately after the row update
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operation is performed. If the condition does not evaluate to true then
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the trigger is not queued for deferred execution.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><replaceable class="parameter">function_name</replaceable></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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A user-supplied function that is declared as taking no arguments
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and returning type <literal>trigger</>, which is executed when
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the trigger fires.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><replaceable class="parameter">arguments</replaceable></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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An optional comma-separated list of arguments to be provided to
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the function when the trigger is executed. The arguments are
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literal string constants. Simple names and numeric constants
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can be written here, too, but they will all be converted to
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strings. Please check the description of the implementation
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language of the trigger function to find out how these arguments
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can be accessed within the function; it might be different from
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normal function arguments.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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</refsect1>
|
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|
|
<refsect1 id="SQL-CREATETRIGGER-notes">
|
|
<title>Notes</title>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
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To create a trigger on a table, the user must have the
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<literal>TRIGGER</literal> privilege on the table. The user must
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also have <literal>EXECUTE</literal> privilege on the trigger function.
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</para>
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<para>
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Use <xref linkend="sql-droptrigger"> to remove a trigger.
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</para>
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<para>
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A column-specific trigger (one defined using the <literal>UPDATE OF
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<replaceable>column_name</replaceable></literal> syntax) will fire when any
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of its columns are listed as targets in the <command>UPDATE</>
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command's <literal>SET</> list. It is possible for a column's value
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to change even when the trigger is not fired, because changes made to the
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row's contents by <literal>BEFORE UPDATE</> triggers are not considered.
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Conversely, a command such as <literal>UPDATE ... SET x = x ...</>
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will fire a trigger on column <literal>x</>, even though the column's
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value did not change.
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</para>
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<para>
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In a <literal>BEFORE</> trigger, the <literal>WHEN</> condition is
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evaluated just before the function is or would be executed, so using
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<literal>WHEN</> is not materially different from testing the same
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condition at the beginning of the trigger function. Note in particular
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that the <literal>NEW</> row seen by the condition is the current value,
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as possibly modified by earlier triggers. Also, a <literal>BEFORE</>
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trigger's <literal>WHEN</> condition is not allowed to examine the
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system columns of the <literal>NEW</> row (such as <literal>oid</>),
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because those won't have been set yet.
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</para>
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<para>
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In an <literal>AFTER</> trigger, the <literal>WHEN</> condition is
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evaluated just after the row update occurs, and it determines whether an
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event is queued to fire the trigger at the end of statement. So when an
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<literal>AFTER</> trigger's <literal>WHEN</> condition does not return
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true, it is not necessary to queue an event nor to re-fetch the row at end
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of statement. This can result in significant speedups in statements that
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modify many rows, if the trigger only needs to be fired for a few of the
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rows.
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</para>
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<para>
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In some cases it is possible for a single SQL command to fire more than
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one kind of trigger. For instance an <command>INSERT</command> with
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an <literal>ON CONFLICT DO UPDATE</> clause may cause both insert and
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|
update operations, so it will fire both kinds of triggers as needed.
|
|
The transition relations supplied to triggers are
|
|
specific to their event type; thus an <command>INSERT</command> trigger
|
|
will see only the inserted rows, while an <command>UPDATE</command>
|
|
trigger will see only the updated rows.
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
Row updates or deletions caused by foreign-key enforcement actions, such
|
|
as <literal>ON UPDATE CASCADE</> or <literal>ON DELETE SET NULL</>, are
|
|
treated as part of the SQL command that caused them (note that such
|
|
actions are never deferred). Relevant triggers on the affected table will
|
|
be fired, so that this provides another way in which a SQL command might
|
|
fire triggers not directly matching its type. In simple cases, triggers
|
|
that request transition relations will see all changes caused in their
|
|
table by a single original SQL command as a single transition relation.
|
|
However, there are cases in which the presence of an <literal>AFTER ROW</>
|
|
trigger that requests transition relations will cause the foreign-key
|
|
enforcement actions triggered by a single SQL command to be split into
|
|
multiple steps, each with its own transition relation(s). In such cases,
|
|
any statement-level triggers that are present will be fired once per
|
|
creation of a transition relation set, ensuring that the triggers see
|
|
each affected row in a transition relation once and only once.
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
Modifying a partitioned table or a table with inheritance children fires
|
|
statement-level triggers directly attached to that table, but not
|
|
statement-level triggers for its partitions or child tables. In contrast,
|
|
row-level triggers are fired for all affected partitions or child tables.
|
|
If a statement-level trigger has been defined with transition relations
|
|
named by a <literal>REFERENCING</literal> clause, then before and after
|
|
images of rows are visible from all affected partitions or child tables.
|
|
In the case of inheritance children, the row images include only columns
|
|
that are present in the table that the trigger is attached to. Currently,
|
|
row-level triggers with transition relations cannot be defined on
|
|
partitions or inheritance child tables.
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
In <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> versions before 7.3, it was
|
|
necessary to declare trigger functions as returning the placeholder
|
|
type <type>opaque</>, rather than <type>trigger</>. To support loading
|
|
of old dump files, <command>CREATE TRIGGER</> will accept a function
|
|
declared as returning <type>opaque</>, but it will issue a notice and
|
|
change the function's declared return type to <type>trigger</>.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</refsect1>
|
|
|
|
<refsect1 id="SQL-CREATETRIGGER-examples">
|
|
<title>Examples</title>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
Execute the function <function>check_account_update</> whenever
|
|
a row of the table <literal>accounts</> is about to be updated:
|
|
|
|
<programlisting>
|
|
CREATE TRIGGER check_update
|
|
BEFORE UPDATE ON accounts
|
|
FOR EACH ROW
|
|
EXECUTE PROCEDURE check_account_update();
|
|
</programlisting>
|
|
|
|
The same, but only execute the function if column <literal>balance</>
|
|
is specified as a target in the <command>UPDATE</> command:
|
|
|
|
<programlisting>
|
|
CREATE TRIGGER check_update
|
|
BEFORE UPDATE OF balance ON accounts
|
|
FOR EACH ROW
|
|
EXECUTE PROCEDURE check_account_update();
|
|
</programlisting>
|
|
|
|
This form only executes the function if column <literal>balance</>
|
|
has in fact changed value:
|
|
|
|
<programlisting>
|
|
CREATE TRIGGER check_update
|
|
BEFORE UPDATE ON accounts
|
|
FOR EACH ROW
|
|
WHEN (OLD.balance IS DISTINCT FROM NEW.balance)
|
|
EXECUTE PROCEDURE check_account_update();
|
|
</programlisting>
|
|
|
|
Call a function to log updates of <literal>accounts</>, but only if
|
|
something changed:
|
|
|
|
<programlisting>
|
|
CREATE TRIGGER log_update
|
|
AFTER UPDATE ON accounts
|
|
FOR EACH ROW
|
|
WHEN (OLD.* IS DISTINCT FROM NEW.*)
|
|
EXECUTE PROCEDURE log_account_update();
|
|
</programlisting>
|
|
|
|
Execute the function <function>view_insert_row</> for each row to insert
|
|
rows into the tables underlying a view:
|
|
|
|
<programlisting>
|
|
CREATE TRIGGER view_insert
|
|
INSTEAD OF INSERT ON my_view
|
|
FOR EACH ROW
|
|
EXECUTE PROCEDURE view_insert_row();
|
|
</programlisting>
|
|
|
|
Execute the function <function>check_transfer_balances_to_zero</> for each
|
|
statement to confirm that the <literal>transfer</> rows offset to a net of
|
|
zero:
|
|
|
|
<programlisting>
|
|
CREATE TRIGGER transfer_insert
|
|
AFTER INSERT ON transfer
|
|
REFERENCING NEW TABLE AS inserted
|
|
FOR EACH STATEMENT
|
|
EXECUTE PROCEDURE check_transfer_balances_to_zero();
|
|
</programlisting>
|
|
|
|
Execute the function <function>check_matching_pairs</> for each row to
|
|
confirm that changes are made to matching pairs at the same time (by the
|
|
same statement):
|
|
|
|
<programlisting>
|
|
CREATE TRIGGER paired_items_update
|
|
AFTER UPDATE ON paired_items
|
|
REFERENCING NEW TABLE AS newtab OLD TABLE AS oldtab
|
|
FOR EACH ROW
|
|
EXECUTE PROCEDURE check_matching_pairs();
|
|
</programlisting>
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
<xref linkend="trigger-example"> contains a complete example of a trigger
|
|
function written in C.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</refsect1>
|
|
|
|
<refsect1 id="SQL-CREATETRIGGER-compatibility">
|
|
<title>Compatibility</title>
|
|
|
|
<!--
|
|
It's not clear whether SQL/MED contemplates triggers on foreign tables.
|
|
Its <drop basic column definition> General Rules do mention the possibility
|
|
of a reference from a trigger column list. On the other hand, nothing
|
|
overrides the fact that CREATE TRIGGER only targets base tables. For now,
|
|
do not document the compatibility status of triggers on foreign tables.
|
|
-->
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
The <command>CREATE TRIGGER</command> statement in
|
|
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> implements a subset of the
|
|
<acronym>SQL</> standard. The following functionalities are currently
|
|
missing:
|
|
|
|
<itemizedlist>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
While transition table names for <literal>AFTER</> triggers are
|
|
specified using the <literal>REFERENCING</> clause in the standard way,
|
|
the row variables used in <literal>FOR EACH ROW</> triggers may not be
|
|
specified in a <literal>REFERENCING</> clause. They are available in a
|
|
manner that is dependent on the language in which the trigger function
|
|
is written, but is fixed for any one language. Some languages
|
|
effectively behave as though there is a <literal>REFERENCING</> clause
|
|
containing <literal>OLD ROW AS OLD NEW ROW AS NEW</>.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
The standard allows transition tables to be used with
|
|
column-specific <literal>UPDATE</> triggers, but then the set of rows
|
|
that should be visible in the transition tables depends on the
|
|
trigger's column list. This is not currently implemented by
|
|
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname>.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> only allows the execution
|
|
of a user-defined function for the triggered action. The standard
|
|
allows the execution of a number of other SQL commands, such as
|
|
<command>CREATE TABLE</command>, as the triggered action. This
|
|
limitation is not hard to work around by creating a user-defined
|
|
function that executes the desired commands.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
|
|
</itemizedlist>
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
SQL specifies that multiple triggers should be fired in
|
|
time-of-creation order. <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> uses
|
|
name order, which was judged to be more convenient.
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
SQL specifies that <literal>BEFORE DELETE</literal> triggers on cascaded
|
|
deletes fire <emphasis>after</> the cascaded <literal>DELETE</> completes.
|
|
The <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> behavior is for <literal>BEFORE
|
|
DELETE</literal> to always fire before the delete action, even a cascading
|
|
one. This is considered more consistent. There is also nonstandard
|
|
behavior if <literal>BEFORE</literal> triggers modify rows or prevent
|
|
updates during an update that is caused by a referential action. This can
|
|
lead to constraint violations or stored data that does not honor the
|
|
referential constraint.
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
The ability to specify multiple actions for a single trigger using
|
|
<literal>OR</literal> is a <productname>PostgreSQL</> extension of
|
|
the SQL standard.
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
The ability to fire triggers for <command>TRUNCATE</command> is a
|
|
<productname>PostgreSQL</> extension of the SQL standard, as is the
|
|
ability to define statement-level triggers on views.
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
<command>CREATE CONSTRAINT TRIGGER</command> is a
|
|
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> extension of the <acronym>SQL</>
|
|
standard.
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
</refsect1>
|
|
|
|
<refsect1>
|
|
<title>See Also</title>
|
|
|
|
<simplelist type="inline">
|
|
<member><xref linkend="sql-altertrigger"></member>
|
|
<member><xref linkend="sql-droptrigger"></member>
|
|
<member><xref linkend="sql-createfunction"></member>
|
|
<member><xref linkend="sql-set-constraints"></member>
|
|
</simplelist>
|
|
</refsect1>
|
|
</refentry>
|