PostgreSQL Server Programming - Second Edition

A summary of the RETURN SETOF variants

You learned that you can return table-like datasets from a function using one of the following:

RETURNS	RECORD structure	INSIDE function
SETOF <type>	This is obtained from the type definition	DECLARE row variable of the ROW or RECORD type ASSIGN to row variable RETURN NEXT var;
SETOF <table/view>	This is the same as the table or view structure
SETOF RECORD	Dynamic using AS (name type, …) at call site
SETOF RECORD	This uses the OUT and INOUT function arguments. Assigned to the OUT variables	RETURN NEXT ;
TABLE (...)	This is declared inline, in parentheses, after the TABLE keyword and is converted to the OUT variable for use in functions. It is assigned to the OUT variables from the TABLE(...) ...