Re: First plpgsql Script

"Van Ingen, Lane" <lvaningen@ESNCC.com> writes:
> The only plpgsql commands available that I am aware of  are assignment commands, loop-related commands, logical tests
(if-then-else),and the like. Perhaps I was hoping that plpgsql has more capability than it does. What I was
specificallylooking for is to be able to do things like date arithmetic, manipulate stored arrays, accumulate totals,
etc.against stored variables while assigning the result to yet another stored variable. 

You seem to be supposing that assignment is incapable of doing any
computation :-(.

You might try looking at the examples that show how to duplicate
Oracle's instr() functions:
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.0/static/plpgsql-porting.html#PLPGSQL-PORTING-APPENDIX

            regards, tom lane