MySQL script error - mysql

Question

I'm new to SQL programming and I decided to make a script. This one might be quite riddled with errors but I'm getting an error that I'm unable to resolve.
DELIMITER $
DROP FUNCTION IF EXISTS crossref$
CREATE FUNCTION crossref()
BEGIN
DECLARE i INT;
DECLARE names VARCHAR(70);
SET i = 1;
myloop: LOOP
SET i=i+1;
IF i = 6 then
LEAVE myloop;
END IF;
SET names = (SELECT NAME FROM cbase_excel_table WHERE ID = i);
INSERT INTO cbase_master(NAME, PERMALINK, HOMEPAGE_URL, CATEGORY_LIST, MARKET, FUNDING, 'STATUS', COUNTRY, REGION, CITY)
SELECT NAME, PERMALINK, HOMEPAGE_URL, CATEGORY_LIST, MARKET, FUNDING, 'STATUS', COUNTRY, REGION, CITY FROM cbase_excel_table WHERE ID = i;
UPDATE cbase_master
SET DESCRIPTION = (SELECT DESCRIPTION FROM cbase_json_table WHERE NAME = names)
SET DOMAIN = (SELECT DOMAIN FROM cbase_json_table WHERE NAME = names)
SET IMAGE_URL = (SELECT IMAGE_URL FROM cbase_json_table WHERE NAME = names)
SET FACEBOOK_URL = (SELECT FACEBOOK_URL FROM cbase_json_table WHERE NAME = names)
SET TWITTER_URL = (SELECT TWITTER_URL FROM cbase_json_table WHERE NAME = names)
SET LINKEDIN_URL = (SELECT LINKEDIN_URL FROM cbase_json_table WHERE NAME = names)
SET CBASE_UUID = (SELECT CBASE_UUID FROM cbase_json_table WHERE NAME = names);
END LOOP myloop;
END$
DELIMITER;
and I'm getting:
#1064 - You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'BEGIN
DECLARE i INT;
DECLARE names VARCHAR(70);
SET i = 1;
Any help?

Answer 1

An example of a function which shows a major difference to your function:
CREATE FUNCTION `fnFindMaximum`(`a` INT, `b` INT)
/* Before the BEGIN statement there are other things going on - the most important being the return type statement */
RETURNS int(11)
LANGUAGE SQL
DETERMINISTIC
CONTAINS SQL
SQL SECURITY DEFINER
COMMENT ''
BEGIN
DECLARE returnval INTEGER;
IF a >= b THEN
SET returnval = a;
ELSE
SET returnval = b;
END IF;
RETURN returnval;
END
Your function then goes on to manipulate sql but does not return a value so, as was pointed out by #arkhil, use a StoredProcedure in preference to a function.