Table of Contents for

MySQL in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

Use this combination of statements to start and end the steps that are part of a stored procedure or trigger. In essence, BEGIN marks the beginning of a compound SQL statement and END marks the end of it. Multiple SQL statements can be included between them.

Traditionally, as you know from using the mysql client, each SQL statement must end with a semicolon. However, semicolons must be used within CREATE PROCEDURE and CREATE TRIGGER statements to separate the internal statements that form the procedure or trigger. So as not to confuse the parser in the client and server, include a DELIMITER command to change the default delimiter to another character before entering BEGIN, and then to set it back to a semicolon again after entering END. For examples of these statements, see the CREATE PROCEDURE and CREATE TRIGGER statements later in this chapter.