In MySQL, can I use procedural SQL outside a stored procedure? - mysql

Question

In Sybase ASE and Microsoft SQL Server, you can use procedural SQL (control flow statements like IF/ELSE and WHILE, declaring and setting lexical variables, and so on) in one-off SQL statement batches, like so:
-- from https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms182587.aspx
DECLARE #Number INTEGER;
SET #Number = 50;
IF #Number > 100
SELECT 'The number is large.' AS large;
ELSE
BEGIN
IF #Number < 10
SELECT 'The number is small.' AS small;
ELSE
SELECT 'The number is medium.' AS medium;
END;
You can send this code directly to SQL Server, without preparing it or putting it in a stored procedure, and SQL Server will send back a table with a single tuple and column, with the value "The number is medium."
From what I can tell, in MySQL, procedural SQL code is restricted to appearing only within stored procedure definitions (CREATE PROCEDURE or CREATE FUNCTION statements):
mysql> delimiter //
mysql> if 32 = 32 then
-> select 'yes';
-> else
-> select 'no';
-> end if;
-> //
ERROR 1064 (42000): 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
'if 32 = 32 then
select 'yes';
else
select 'no';
end if'
at line 1
Is this impression correct?

Answer 1

Yes, you are correct. Lots of constructs are only valid inside stored functions, like if. It even says so in the manual.
"The IF statement for stored programs implements a basic conditional construct."
However, the same result can be achieved using another approach, with the function if
select if(32 = 32, 'yes', 'no');
sqlfiddle