SQL/PSM

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SQL extension

title: "SQL/PSM" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["data-management", "sql", "data-centric-programming-languages", "programming-languages-created-in-1996"] description: "SQL extension" topic_path: "technology/databases" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL/PSM" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary SQL extension ::

::data[format=table title="infobox programming language"]

FieldValue
nameSQL/PSM
paradigmMulti-paradigm
year1996
latest_release_versionSQL:2023
turing-completeYes
implementationsPL/SQL
MySQL/MariaDB
IBM's SQL PL
Mimer SQL
influenced_byPL/SQL
Ada
operating_systemCross-platform (multi-platform)
::

| name = SQL/PSM | logo = | paradigm = Multi-paradigm | year = 1996 | designer = | developer = | latest_release_version = SQL:2023 | latest_release_date = | latest_preview_version = | latest_preview_date = | turing-complete = Yes | typing = | implementations = PL/SQL MySQL/MariaDB IBM's SQL PL Mimer SQL | influenced_by = PL/SQL Ada | influenced = | operating_system = Cross-platform (multi-platform) | license = | website = | file_ext = | dialects = | wikibooks =

SQL/PSM (SQL/Persistent Stored Modules) is an ISO standard mainly defining an extension of SQL with a procedural language for use in stored procedures. Initially published in 1996 as an extension of SQL-92 (ISO/IEC 9075-4:1996, a version sometimes called PSM-96 or even SQL-92/PSM), SQL/PSM was later incorporated into the multi-part SQL:1999 standard, and has been part 4 of that standard since then, most recently in SQL:2023. The SQL:1999 part 4 covered less than the original PSM-96 because the SQL statements for defining, managing, and invoking routines were actually incorporated into part 2 SQL/Foundation, leaving only the procedural language itself as SQL/PSM. The SQL/PSM facilities are still optional as far as the SQL standard is concerned; most of them are grouped in Features P001-P008.

SQL/PSM standardizes syntax and semantics for control flow, exception handling (called "condition handling" in SQL/PSM), local variables, assignment of expressions to variables and parameters, and (procedural) use of cursors. It also defines an information schema (metadata) for stored procedures. SQL/PSM is one language in which methods for the SQL:1999 structured types can be defined. The other is Java, via SQL/JRT.

SQL/PSM is derived, seemingly directly, from Oracle's PL/SQL. Oracle developed PL/SQL and released it in 1991, basing the language on the US Department of Defense's Ada programming language. However, Oracle has maintained a distance from the standard in its documentation. IBM's SQL PL (used in DB2) and Mimer SQL's PSM were the first two products officially implementing SQL/PSM. It is commonly thought that these two languages, and perhaps also MySQL/MariaDB's procedural language, are closest to the SQL/PSM standard. However, a PostgreSQL addon implements SQL/PSM (alongside its other procedural languages like the PL/SQL-derived plpgsql), although it is not part of the core product.

RDF functionality in OpenLink Virtuoso was developed entirely through SQL/PSM, combined with custom datatypes (e.g., ANY for handling URI and Literal relation objects), sophisticated indexing, and flexible physical storage choices (column-wise or row-wise).

References

References

  1. (2015). "Stored Procedures: critiques and defences".
  2. (1996). "New standard for stored procedures in SQL". ACM SIGMOD Record.
  3. "Catalogue". ISO.
  4. (2002). "SQL: 1999". Morgan Kaufmann.
  5. "Stored Procedures in Mimer SQL".
  6. (2008). "MySQL Stored Procedure Programming". O'Reilly.
  7. "Stored Procedures".
  8. (7 July 2020). "plpsm0".
  9. (May 2011). "Announce". PostgreSQL.
  10. (22 February 2012). "PostgreSQL: Proposal: PL/pgPSM for 9.3".
  11. (2008). "SQL/PSM". PostgreSQL.
  12. "Documentation". PostgreSQL.
  13. "Chapter 8. SQL-Invoked Routines".
  14. "Chapter 11. SQL Procedure Language Guide".
  15. "Invantive SQL v2.0 Grammar".
  16. "Mimer SQL Stored Procedures".

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data-managementsqldata-centric-programming-languagesprogramming-languages-created-in-1996