PL/pgSQL

It’s no surprise Postgres does more than merely store data; you can’t do everything with SQL. Often, it’s often more beneficial to process data locally without transmitting it to a client interface. Local manipulation can save hours in network traffic alone, let alone client-side allocation and per-row processing. Databases like Postgres are specifically for bulk data operations, so why not take advantage? But doing that requires functions—anonymous or otherwise—and a Turing-complete language to write them with.

Like any programming language, the PL/pgSQL Postgres procedural language has plenty of handy control structures. Among those thankfully modern accoutrements is the humble EXCEPTION block. While not the more prevalent try/catch methodology, we can use BEGIN anywhere to start an embedded section for the same effect. Knowing this is the case, what are the costs of actually using them? Postgres is fairly streamlined, and as such, can take several shortcuts when there are no exception blocks within a chunk of PL/pgSQL.