release the copy of the name when you don't need it anymore.)
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Arguments</title>

  <variablelist>
   <varlistentry>
    <term><literal>TupleDesc <parameter>rowdesc</parameter></literal></term>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      input row description
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>

   <varlistentry>
    <term><literal>int <parameter>colnumber</parameter></literal></term>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      column number (count starts at 1)
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>
  </variablelist>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Return Value</title>

  <para>
   The column name; <symbol>NULL</symbol> if
   <parameter>colnumber</parameter> is out of range.
   <varname>SPI_result</varname> set to
   <symbol>SPI_ERROR_NOATTRIBUTE</symbol> on error.
  </para>
 </refsect1>
</refentry>

<!-- *********************************************** -->

<refentry id="spi-spi-fnumber">
 <indexterm><primary>SPI_fnumber</primary></indexterm>

 <refmeta>
  <refentrytitle>SPI_fnumber</refentrytitle>
  <manvolnum>3</manvolnum>
 </refmeta>

 <refnamediv>
  <refname>SPI_fnumber</refname>
  <refpurpose>determine the column number for the specified column name</refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>

 <refsynopsisdiv>
<synopsis>
int SPI_fnumber(TupleDesc <parameter>rowdesc</parameter>, const char * <parameter>colname</parameter>)
</synopsis>
 </refsynopsisdiv>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Description</title>

  <para>
   <function>SPI_fnumber</function> returns the column number for the
   column with the specified name.
  </para>

  <para>
   If <parameter>colname</parameter> refers to a system column (e.g.,
   <literal>ctid</literal>) then the appropriate negative column number will
   be returned.  The caller should be careful to test the return value
   for exact equality to <symbol>SPI_ERROR_NOATTRIBUTE</symbol> to
   detect an error; testing the result for less than or equal to 0 is
   not correct unless system columns should be rejected.
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Arguments</title>

  <variablelist>
   <varlistentry>
    <term><literal>TupleDesc <parameter>rowdesc</parameter></literal></term>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      input row description
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>

   <varlistentry>
    <term><literal>const char * <parameter>colname</parameter></literal></term>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      column name
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>
  </variablelist>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Return Value</title>

  <para>
   Column number (count starts at 1 for user-defined columns), or
   <symbol>SPI_ERROR_NOATTRIBUTE</symbol> if the named column was not
   found.
  </para>
 </refsect1>
</refentry>

<!-- *********************************************** -->

<refentry id="spi-spi-getvalue">
 <indexterm><primary>SPI_getvalue</primary></indexterm>

 <refmeta>
  <refentrytitle>SPI_getvalue</refentrytitle>
  <manvolnum>3</manvolnum>
 </refmeta>

 <refnamediv>
  <refname>SPI_getvalue</refname>
  <refpurpose>return the string value of the specified column</refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>

 <refsynopsisdiv>
<synopsis>
char * SPI_getvalue(HeapTuple <parameter>row</parameter>, TupleDesc <parameter>rowdesc</parameter>, int <parameter>colnumber</parameter>)
</synopsis>
 </refsynopsisdiv>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Description</title>

  <para>
   <function>SPI_getvalue</function> returns the string representation
   of the value of the specified column.
  </para>

  <para>
   The result is returned in memory allocated using
   <function>palloc</function>.  (You can use
   <function>pfree</function> to release the memory when you don't
   need it anymore.)
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Arguments</title>

  <variablelist>
   <varlistentry>
    <term><literal>HeapTuple <parameter>row</parameter></literal></term>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      input row to be examined
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>

   <varlistentry>
    <term><literal>TupleDesc