How can a Postgres Stored Function return a table

Question

I would like to find out how a Postgres stored function can return a table, with identified columns. I've used returns setof returnType:

-- create employeeSearchResult returnType
create type employeeAllReturnType as
(
  id bigserial,
  "positionId" integer,
  "subjectId" bigint,
  "dateEngaged" date,
  "nextKin" text,
  "nrcNo" text,
  dob date,
  father text,
  mother text,
  wife text,
  "userId" integer,
  "statusId" integer,
  "mainCode" text,
  "subCode" text
);


-- Search for emmployee by name
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION "employee_search_by_name"(employeeNameIN text)
returns setof employeeAllReturnType as 
$$
declare
    results record;
    resultsRow employee%rowtype;
    nameIn text;
begin
    nameIn = employeeNameIN || '%';
    for results in select 
        employee.id,-- bigserial NOT NULL,
  employee."positionId",-- integer,
  employee."subjectId",-- bigint NOT NULL,
  employee."dateEngaged",-- date,
  employee."nextKin",-- text,
  employee."nrcNo",-- text,
  employee.dob,-- date,
  employee.father,-- text,
  employee.mother,-- text,
  employee.wife,-- text,
  employee."userId",-- integer NOT NULL,
  employee."statusId",-- integer,
  employee."mainCode",-- character(5) NOT NULL,
  employee."subCode"-- character(10),
     from employee, subject where employee."subjectId" = subject.id and (subject.name1 ILIKE nameIn OR subject.name2 ILIKE nameIn OR subject.name3 ILIKE nameIn OR subject.name4 ILIKE nameIn) loop
      return next results;
    end loop;
end;
$$ language 'plpgsql';

and also return table():

-- Search for emmployee by name
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION "employee_search_by_name"(employeeNameIN text)
returns table (id bigserial,
  position integer,
  subject bigint,
  date_engaged date,
  next_kin text,
  nrc_no text,
  dob date,
  father text,
  mother text,
  wife text,
  user_id integer,
  status_id integer,
  main_code text,
  sub_code text) as 
$$
declare
    results record;
    resultsRow employee%rowtype;
    nameIn text;
begin
    nameIn = employeeNameIN || '%';
    for results in select 
        employee.id,-- bigserial NOT NULL,
        employee."positionId",-- integer,
        employee."subjectId",-- bigint NOT NULL,
        employee."dateEngaged",-- date,
        employee."nextKin",-- text,
        employee."nrcNo",-- text,
        employee.dob,-- date,
        employee.father,-- text,
        employee.mother,-- text,
        employee.wife,-- text,
        employee."userId",-- integer NOT NULL,
        employee."statusId",-- integer,
        employee."mainCode",-- character(5) NOT NULL,
        employee."subCode"-- character(10),
     from employee, subject where employee."subjectId" = subject.id and (subject.name1 ILIKE nameIn OR subject.name2 ILIKE nameIn OR subject.name3 ILIKE nameIn OR subject.name4 ILIKE nameIn) loop
      return next results;
    end loop;
end;
$$ language 'plpgsql';

But both have outputs in the following formats:

"(1,1,1,2011-12-01,Timea,fg1254,1981-12-27,moses,sarada,timea,1,1,"ADM  ","1         ")"
"(37,3,10,2011-11-11,s,s,2011-11-11,s,s,s,1,1,"OP   ","1         ")"

Is there anyway in which I can have outputs such as those of a select result from a table?

"1";1;1;"2011-12-01";"Timea";"fg1254";"1981-12-27";"moses";"sarada";"timea";1;1;"ADM  ";"1         "

Such that handling result data from the front end wont require a parser.

Answer 1

You should query your function like this:

SELECT * FROM employee_search_by_name('Bob');

Also, to simplify your function, you might look into the RETURN QUERY EXECUTE ... construct. And there's no need to quote plpgsql keyword.