I knew I was doing something stupid. Right after I sent this I realized I was calling incorrectly. This works: rnd=# select * from parse_string ('1/2/3/4/5', '/'); NOTICE: parse_string () parse_string -------------- 1 2 3 4 5 (5 rows) And so does this: rnd=# select ARRAY(SELECT * from parse_string ('1/2/3/4/5', '/')); NOTICE: parse_string () ?column? ------------- {1,2,3,4,5} (1 row) On Thursday 01 December 2005 12:32 pm, Terry Lee Tucker saith: > List, > > I have a simple function: > CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION parse_string (TEXT, TEXT) RETURNS SETOF TEXT AS > ' DECLARE > str ALIAS FOR $1; -- the string to parse > delimiter ALIAS FOR $2; -- the delimiter > field TEXT; -- return value from split_part > idx INTEGER DEFAULT 1; -- field counter > funcName TEXT DEFAULT ''parse_string''; -- function name > dbg BOOLEAN DEFAULT True; -- debug print flag > BEGIN > IF dbg THEN > RAISE NOTICE ''% ()'', funcName; > END IF; > SELECT INTO field split_part (str, delimiter, idx); > WHILE field != '''' LOOP > RETURN NEXT field; > idx = idx + 1; > SELECT INTO field split_part (str, delimiter, idx); > END LOOP; > RETURN; > END; > ' LANGUAGE 'plpgsql'; > > As you can see, I'm using split_part to parse the string in a loop. I want > this thing to return the set of values that make up the fields in the > string. When I call the function from psql here is the error I'm getting: > rnd=# select parse_string ('1/2/3/4/5', '/'); > NOTICE: parse_string () > ERROR: set-valued function called in context that cannot accept a set > CONTEXT: PL/pgSQL function "parse_string" line 14 at return next > > Then I tried this approach and got the same error: > rnd=# select ARRAY(SELECT parse_string ('1/2/3/4/5', '/')); > NOTICE: parse_string () > ERROR: set-valued function called in context that cannot accept a set > CONTEXT: PL/pgSQL function "parse_string" line 14 at return next > > Version Information: > rnd=# select version(); > version > --------------------------------------------------------------------------- >----------------------------------- PostgreSQL 7.4.6 on > i686-redhat-linux-gnu, compiled by GCC gcc (GCC) 3.2.3 20030502 (Red Hat > Linux 3.2.3-49) > > I'm sure that I'm doing something stupid. Any input would be appreciated... > > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- > TIP 2: Don't 'kill -9' the postmaster -- Quote: 80 "Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem." --Ronald Reagan Work: 1-336-372-6812 Cell: 1-336-363-4719 email: terry@xxxxxxxx