Apache Hive : HPL/SQL - CREATE FUNCTION Statement

Last updated: August 12, 2026

Apache Hive : HPL/SQL - CREATE FUNCTION Statement

CREATE FUNCTION statement allows you to create a user-defined SQL function.

Syntax:

ALTER | CREATE [OR REPLACE] | REPLACE FUNCTION function_name ( [parameters] )
 RETURNS | RETURN data_type
 [AS | IS] 
 body

parameters:
  [IN] name data_type, ...
  |
  name [IN] data_type, ...

body:
  statement | expression | BEGIN statements END

Example 1:

Create a function without parameters:

CREATE FUNCTION hello()
 RETURNS STRING
BEGIN
 RETURN 'Hello, world';
END;

-- Call the function
PRINT hello();

Example 2:

Create a function with a parameter:

CREATE FUNCTION hello2(text STRING)
 RETURNS STRING
BEGIN
 RETURN 'Hello, ' || text || '!';
END;

-- Call the function
PRINT hello2('world');

Compatibility: Oracle, Teradata, IBM DB2, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL and Netezza

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Apache Hive : HPL/SQL - CREATE FUNCTION Statement