syntax error on: GET DIAGNOSTICS xcount = ROW_COUNT;

Hi All,

I am getting an error on "GET DIAGNOSTICS " statement in a PL/SQL function
below.

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION test(lid int, OUT nid int) AS $$
DECLARE
  road_row road%ROWTYPE;
BEGIN
  SELECT * INTO road_row FROM road WHERE link_id=lid;
  GET DIAGNOSTICS xcount = ROW_COUNT;

  IF xcount = 0 THEN
    RAISE DEBUG 'LID=% not found', lid;
    nid := -99;
    RETURN
  END IF
......

The exact error message is:
ERROR:  syntax error at or near "xcount" at character

I am must be doing something wrong somewhere.

Thanks a lot for any help.

_C_