Choosing the right language

One of the cool features of PostgreSQL is the privilege for you to write your stored procedures in almost any language you want. Some languages such as SQL, PL/pgSQL, PL/Perl, PL/Python, and PL/Tcl are shipped along with the core of the system. You can also add other languages such as PL/sh, PL/v8, and many more to PostgreSQL to make sure that you always have the language of your choice at hand when you want to write a procedure.

Tip

The listing at https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/PL_Matrix contains an overview of all procedural languages available.

To enable a procedural language, you can call CREATE LANGUAGE.

test=# \h CREATE LANGUAGE
Command:     CREATE LANGUAGE
Description: define a new procedural language
Syntax:
CREATE [ OR REPLACE ] [ PROCEDURAL ] LANGUAGE name
CREATE [ OR REPLACE ] [ TRUSTED ] [ PROCEDURAL ] LANGUAGE name
    HANDLER call_handler [ INLINE inline_handler ] [ VALIDATOR valfunction ]

To enable PL/Perl, just call this command:

CREATE LANGUAGE plperl...