CREATE FUNCTION

The CREATE FUNCTION command can be used to create user-defined functions (UDFs). There are three ways to create UDFs in RisingWave: UDFs as external functions, embedded UDFs and SQL UDFs. CREATE FUNCTION can be used for them with different syntax.

UDFs as external functions

You can define your own functions (including table functions) by some programming languages, like Python and Java, and call these functions in RisingWave.

The CREATE FUNCTION command is used to declare these UDFs. After that, you can use them in SQL queries like any built-in functions.

Syntax

CREATE FUNCTION function_name ( argument_type [, ...] )
    [ RETURNS return_type | RETURNS TABLE ( column_name column_type [, ...] ) ]
    [ LANGUAGE language_name ]
    AS function_name_defined_in_server
    USING LINK 'udf_server_address';

Parameters

Parameter or clause	Description
function_name	The name of the UDF that you want to declare in RisingWave.
argument_type	The data type of the input parameter(s) that the UDF expects to receive.
RETURNS return_type	Use this if the function returns a single value (i.e., scalar). It specifies the data type of the return value from the UDF. The struct type, which can contain multiple values, is supported. But the field names must be consistent between the programming language and SQL definitions, or it will be considered a type mismatch.
RETURNS TABLE	Use this if the function is a table-valued function (TVF). It specifies the structure of the table that the UDF returns.
LANGUAGE	Optional. Specifies the programming language used to implement the UDF. Currently, Python, Java,Rust, and JavaScript are supported.
AS function_name_defined_in_server	Specifies the function name defined in the UDF server.
USING LINK 'udf_server_address'	Specifies the UDF server address. If you are running RisingWave in your local environment, the address is http://localhost:<port> If you are running RisingWave using Docker, the address is http://host.docker.internal:<port>/

Examples

Use CREATE FUNCTION to declare a UDF defined by Python. For more details, see Use UDFs in Python.

CREATE FUNCTION gcd(int, int) RETURNS int
LANGUAGE python AS gcd USING LINK 'http://localhost:8815'; -- If you are running RisingWave using Docker, replace the address with 'http://host.docker.internal:8815'.

Use CREATE FUNCTION to declare a UDF defined by Java. For more details, see Use UDFs in Java.

CREATE FUNCTION gcd(int, int) RETURNS int  
AS gcd  
USING LINK 'http://localhost:8815';

Embedded UDFs

Embedded UDFs are functions that run in the language runtime embedded in RisingWave computation nodes. The CREATE FUNCTION command is used to create these UDFs.

Here are some examples of embedded UDFs, along with links to specific guides on creating them with different languages.

Embedded UDFs

# Embedded Python UDF
create function gcd(a int, b int) returns int language python as $$
def gcd(a, b):
    while b != 0:
        a, b = b, a % b
    return a
$$;

For more details, see Embedded Python UDFs.

Embedded UDFs

# Embedded JavaScript UDF
create function gcd(a int, b int) returns int language javascript as $$
    while (b != 0) {
        let t = b;
        b = a % b;
        a = t;
    }
    return a;
$$;

For more details, see Use UDFs in JavaScript.

Embedded UDFs

# Embedded Rust UDF
create function gcd(int, int) returns int language rust as $$
    fn gcd(mut a: i32, mut b: i32) -> i32 {
        while b != 0 {
            let t = b;
            b = a % b;
            a = t;
        }
        a
    }
$$;

For more details, see Use UDFs in Rust.

SQL UDFs

SQL UDFs in RisingWave are designed to expand directly into expressions at the frontend, resulting in minimal performance difference compared to manually calling multiple functions.

The CREATE FUNCTION command is used to define SQL UDFs. You can read our guide on SQL UDFs for more details.

Syntax of SQL UDFs

CREATE FUNCTION function_name ( argument_type [, ...] )
    RETURNS return_type
    LANGUAGE sql
    { AS as_definition | RETURN return_definition }; 

See also

SHOW FUNCTIONS — Show all user-defined functions.

DROP FUNCTION — Drop a user-defined function.