PostgreSQL 9.3.2 Documentation
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# CREATE EVENT TRIGGER

## Name

CREATE EVENT TRIGGER -- define a new event trigger

## Synopsis

    CREATE EVENT TRIGGER name
      ON event
      [ WHEN filter_variable IN (filter_value [, ... ]) [ AND ... ] ]
      EXECUTE PROCEDURE function_name()

## Description

`CREATE EVENT TRIGGER` creates a new event trigger. Whenever the designated event occurs and the `WHEN` condition associated with the trigger, if any, is satisfied, the trigger function will be executed. For a general introduction to event triggers, see Chapter 37. The user who creates an event trigger becomes its owner.

## Parameters

`name`

  The name to give the new trigger. This name must be unique within the database.

`event`

  The name of the event that triggers a call to the given function. See Section 37.1 for more information on event names.

`filter_variable`

  The name of a variable used to filter events. This makes it possible to restrict the firing of the trigger to a subset of the cases in which it is supported. Currently the only supported `filter_variable` is `TAG`.

`filter_value`

  A list of values for the associated `filter_variable` for which the trigger should fire. For `TAG`, this means a list of command tags (e.g. `'DROP FUNCTION'`).

`function_name`

  A user-supplied function that is declared as taking no argument and returning type `event_trigger`.

## Notes

Only superusers can create event triggers.

Event triggers are disabled in single-user mode (see postgres). If an erroneous event trigger disables the database so much that you can't even drop the trigger, restart in single-user mode and you'll be able to do that.

## Examples

Forbid the execution of any DDL command:

    CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION abort_any_command()
      RETURNS event_trigger
     LANGUAGE plpgsql
      AS $$
    BEGIN
      RAISE EXCEPTION 'command % is disabled', tg_tag;
    END;
    $$;

    CREATE EVENT TRIGGER abort_ddl ON ddl_command_start
       EXECUTE PROCEDURE abort_any_command();

## Compatibility

There is no `CREATE EVENT TRIGGER` statement in the SQL standard.

## See Also

ALTER EVENT TRIGGER, DROP EVENT TRIGGER, CREATE FUNCTION

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