argument causes that query to be run and the result to
      be returned in a result object.
     </para>

     <para>
      If <replaceable>limit</replaceable> is specified and is greater than
      zero, then <function>plpy.execute</function> retrieves at
      most <replaceable>limit</replaceable> rows, much as if the query
      included a <literal>LIMIT</literal>
      clause.  Omitting <replaceable>limit</replaceable> or specifying it as
      zero results in no row limit.
     </para>

     <para>
      The result object emulates a list or dictionary object.  The result
      object can be accessed by row number and column name.  For example:
<programlisting>
rv = plpy.execute("SELECT * FROM my_table", 5)
</programlisting>
      returns up to 5 rows from <literal>my_table</literal>.  If
      <literal>my_table</literal> has a column
      <literal>my_column</literal>, it would be accessed as:
<programlisting>
foo = rv[i]["my_column"]
</programlisting>
      The number of rows returned can be obtained using the built-in
      <function>len</function> function.
     </para>

     <para>
      The result object has these additional methods:
      <variablelist>
       <varlistentry>
        <term><literal><function>nrows</function>()</literal></term>
        <listitem>
         <para>
          Returns the number of rows processed by the command.  Note that this
          is not necessarily the same as the number of rows returned.  For
          example, an <command>UPDATE</command> command will set this value but
          won't return any rows (unless <literal>RETURNING</literal> is used).
         </para>
        </listitem>
       </varlistentry>

       <varlistentry>
        <term><literal><function>status</function>()</literal></term>
        <listitem>
         <para>
          The <function>SPI_execute()</function> return value.
         </para>
        </listitem>
       </varlistentry>

       <varlistentry>
        <term><literal><function>colnames</function>()</literal></term>
        <term><literal><function>coltypes</function>()</literal></term>
        <term><literal><function>coltypmods</function>()</literal></term>
        <listitem>
         <para>
          Return a list of column names, list of column type OIDs, and list of
          type-specific type modifiers for the columns, respectively.
         </para>

         <para>
          These methods raise an exception when called on a result object from
          a command that did not produce a result set, e.g.,
          <command>UPDATE</command> without <literal>RETURNING</literal>, or
          <command>DROP TABLE</command>.  But it is OK to use these methods on
          a result set containing zero rows.
         </para>
        </listitem>
       </varlistentry>

       <varlistentry>
        <term><literal><function>__str__</function>()</literal></term>
        <listitem>
         <para>
          The standard <literal>__str__</literal> method is defined so that it
          is possible for example to debug query execution results
          using <literal>plpy.debug(rv)</literal>.
         </para>
        </listitem>
       </varlistentry>
      </variablelist>
     </para>

     <para>
      The result object can be modified.
     </para>

     <para>
      Note that calling <literal>plpy.execute</literal> will cause the entire
      result set to be read into memory.  Only use that function when you are
      sure that the result set will be relatively small.  If you don't want to
      risk excessive memory usage when fetching large results,
      use <literal>plpy.cursor</literal> rather
      than <literal>plpy.execute</literal>.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>

   <varlistentry>
    <term><literal>plpy.<function>prepare</function>(<replaceable>query</replaceable> [, <replaceable>argtypes</replaceable>])</literal></term>
    <term><literal>plpy.<function>execute</function>(<replaceable>plan</replaceable> [, <replaceable>arguments</replaceable>