Thanks Tom. As usual, I learned a lot more from your reply than just the answer to my question .
Bill
Tom Lane wrote:
Bill Todd <pg@dbginc.com> writes:
I am missing something basic. How can I use an input parameter as the
destination path in a COPY statement in a function.
plpgsql can only substitute parameter values into places where a data
value is called for in a DML statement (ie, SELECT/INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE).
To use a parameter in other contexts, such as a utility statement like
COPY, you need to construct the command as a string and EXECUTE it.
Try something like
EXECUTE 'copy dvd.genre to ' || quote_literal(export_path) || $q$ with delimiter as E'\t' null as '' $q$ ;
(There's any number of ways to do the quoting here, of course,
but I do strongly recommend using quote_literal() on the parameter.)
regards, tom lane