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<refentry id="SQL-EXECUTE">
<refmeta>
<refentrytitle id="sql-execute-title">EXECUTE</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>7</manvolnum>
<refmiscinfo>SQL - Language Statements</refmiscinfo>
</refmeta>
<refnamediv>
<refname>EXECUTE</refname>
<refpurpose>execute a prepared statement</refpurpose>
</refnamediv>
<indexterm zone="sql-execute">
<primary>EXECUTE</primary>
</indexterm>
<indexterm zone="sql-execute">
<primary>prepared statements</primary>
<secondary>executing</secondary>
</indexterm>
<refsynopsisdiv>
<synopsis>
EXECUTE <replaceable class="PARAMETER">name</replaceable> [ ( <replaceable class="PARAMETER">parameter</replaceable> [, ...] ) ]
</synopsis>
</refsynopsisdiv>
<refsect1>
<title>Description</title>
<para>
<command>EXECUTE</command> is used to execute a previously prepared
statement. Since prepared statements only exist for the duration of a
session, the prepared statement must have been created by a
<command>PREPARE</command> statement executed earlier in the
current session.
</para>
<para>
If the <command>PREPARE</command> statement that created the statement
specified some parameters, a compatible set of parameters must be
passed to the <command>EXECUTE</command> statement, or else an
error is raised. Note that (unlike functions) prepared statements are
not overloaded based on the type or number of their parameters; the
name of a prepared statement must be unique within a database session.
</para>
<para>
For more information on the creation and usage of prepared statements,
see <xref linkend="sql-prepare" endterm="sql-prepare-title">.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Parameters</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><replaceable class="PARAMETER">name</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
The name of the prepared statement to execute.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><replaceable class="PARAMETER">parameter</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
The actual value of a parameter to the prepared statement. This
must be an expression yielding a value that is compatible with
the data type of this parameter, as was determined when the
prepared statement was created.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Outputs</title>
<para>
The command tag returned by <command>EXECUTE</command>
is that of the prepared statement, and not <literal>EXECUTE</>.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Examples</>
<para>
Examples are given in the <xref linkend="sql-prepare-examples"
endterm="sql-prepare-examples-title"> section of the <xref
linkend="sql-prepare" endterm="sql-prepare-title"> documentation.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Compatibility</title>
<para>
The SQL standard includes an <command>EXECUTE</command> statement,
but it is only for use in embedded SQL. This version of the
<command>EXECUTE</command> statement also uses a somewhat different
syntax.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>See Also</title>
<simplelist type="inline">
<member><xref linkend="sql-deallocate" endterm="sql-deallocate-title"></member>
<member><xref linkend="sql-prepare" endterm="sql-prepare-title"></member>
</simplelist>
</refsect1>
</refentry>