DO(7)

💅 DO(7) — bestie's guide to the DO statement

okay so real talk, you're looking at the PostgreSQL 17.11 docs page for DO, and honestly? she's a lil icon. a whole anonymous code block, no name, no permanent address, just vibes and execution. let's get into it 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

DO — execute an anonymous code block. that's it. that's the whole job. no cap. 👑

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

DO [ LANGUAGE lang_name ] code

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

So DO executes an anonymous code block — or, to say it in a less nerdy way, a transient anonymous function in a procedural language. she's here for a good time, not a long time. 💅

The code block is treated like it's the body of a function with no parameters, returning void. It gets parsed and executed exactly a single time. one and done, periodt. ✨

The optional LANGUAGE clause? You can write it either before or after the code block. order doesn't matter, she's flexible like that. 🦋

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✨ PARAMETERS ✨

• code — the procedural language code you actually want to run. It must be specified as a string literal, just like in CREATE FUNCTION. and listen: using a dollar-quoted literal is recommended. trust. 💖
• lang_name — the name of the procedural language your code is written in. if you omit it, the default is plpgsql. slay, but also know your defaults. 🎀

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✨ NOTES ✨

okay this is the part where you gotta pay attention, bestie, because these are the real ones:

• The procedural language you want to use must already have been installed into the current database via CREATE EXTENSION. plpgsql is installed by default — but other languages are not. so don't come for her when it's missing, okay? 😭
• The user must have USAGE privilege for the procedural language — or must be a superuser if the language is untrusted. this is literally the same privilege requirement as creating a function in that language. same rules, same energy. 🔥
• If DO is executed in a transaction block, then the procedure code cannot execute transaction control statements. those are only allowed if DO is executed in its own transaction. big caveat, don't @ me. 💀

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✨ EXAMPLES ✨

ok so say you wanna grant all privileges on all views in schema public to role webuser — here's the moment, here's the move:

DO $$DECLARE r record;
BEGIN
    FOR r IN SELECT table_schema, table_name FROM information_schema.tables
             WHERE table_type = 'VIEW' AND table_schema = 'public'
    LOOP
        EXECUTE 'GRANT ALL ON ' || quote_ident(r.table_schema) || '.' || quote_ident(r.table_name) || ' TO webuser';
    END LOOP;
END$$;

ate. no crumbs. 👑✨

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✨ COMPATIBILITY ✨

There is no DO statement in the SQL standard. she's a PostgreSQL original, iykyk. 🌈

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✨ SEE ALSO ✨

• CREATE LANGUAGE (CREATE_LANGUAGE(7)) — go read that one too, she's the prequel 🧚

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and that's the whole page, bestie! this was PostgreSQL 17.11 documentation, dated 2026, for DO(7) — go forth and run your anonymous little code blocks 💜🎀🦋