PostgreSQL pg_sleep() Function

The PostgreSQL pg_sleep() function suspends the execution of the current server process for the specified number of seconds.

pg_sleep() Syntax

Here is the syntax of the PostgreSQL pg_sleep() function:

pg_sleep(seconds DOUBLE)

Parameters

seconds

Required. The pause duration in seconds. It should be greater than or equal to 0, and can have a fractional part.

Return value

The PostgreSQL pg_sleep() function has no return value, it is used to pause the execution of the current server process for the specified number of seconds.

pg_sleep() Examples

This example combined clock_timestamp() demonstrates the capabilities of pg_sleep().

SELECT
    clock_timestamp(),
    pg_sleep(10),
    clock_timestamp();

-[ RECORD 1 ]---+------------------------------
clock_timestamp | 2022-05-20 11:32:26.813093+08
pg_sleep        |
clock_timestamp | 2022-05-20 11:32:36.823482+08

Here, since we use pg_sleep(10) in the middle of the two clock_timestamp() functions to pause the current server process for 10 seconds temporarily, so the execution of the second clock_timestamp() function is 10 seconds later than the first, so the return value of the second funciont is 10 seconds later than the first .