Run external command as part of an sql statement ?

[David Gauthier <davegauthierpg@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi:

At the psql prompt, I can do something like...

   "select  \! id -nu"

...to get the uid of whoever's running psql.  

 

I want to be able to run a shell command like this from within a stored procedure.  Is there a way to do this ?

Thanks