Re: Why does the PL/pgSQL compiler do this?

Michael Moore <michaeljmoore@gmail.com> writes:
> I'm still a bit confused. If I replace the ROLLBACK; command with ELEPHANT;
> the result is a syntax error. Why doesn't ROLLBACK; produce the same error
> since it is not valid in the LANGUAGE plpgsql.

That's a runtime error so far as plpgsql is concerned, because it relies
on the SPI layer to throw the error.  It might be practical to complain
about it at compile time, but it would be some extra code that nobody's
written.
        regards, tom lane