Can a stored procedure/function return a table?

Question

Can a MySql stored procedure / function return a table without the use of temp table?

Creating the following procedure

CREATE PROCEDURE database.getExamples()      SELECT * FROM examples; 

and later calling it with

CALL database.getExamples() 

displays the example table - just as expected - but the following doesn't seem to be possible:

SELECT * FROM CALL database.getExamples() 

Is it possible at all to return a query result table from a stored procedure / function, and if so - how?

Answer 1

As for now, this is not possible.

Here is the documentation on what may be used in the FROM clause:

table_references:     table_reference [, table_reference] ...  table_reference:     table_factor   | join_table  table_factor:     tbl_name [[AS] alias] [index_hint)]   | table_subquery [AS] alias   | ( table_references )   | { OJ table_reference LEFT OUTER JOIN table_reference         ON conditional_expr }  join_table:     table_reference [INNER | CROSS] JOIN table_factor [join_condition]   | table_reference STRAIGHT_JOIN table_factor   | table_reference STRAIGHT_JOIN table_factor ON conditional_expr   | table_reference {LEFT|RIGHT} [OUTER] JOIN table_reference join_condition   | table_reference NATURAL [{LEFT|RIGHT} [OUTER]] JOIN table_factor  join_condition:     ON conditional_expr   | USING (column_list)  index_hint:     USE {INDEX|KEY} [FOR JOIN] (index_list)   | IGNORE {INDEX|KEY} [FOR JOIN] (index_list)   | FORCE {INDEX|KEY} [FOR JOIN] (index_list)  index_list:     index_name [, index_name] ... 

As you can see, stored procedures are not in this list.