SQLSTATE 2F005Severity mediumLab verified

Incident brief

Function ended without RETURN

A function declared to return a value must execute a RETURN on every path; a code path that falls off the end without RETURN raises this SQL-routine exception at call time.

Reproduced on PostgreSQL 18.4Verified 2026-07-24 (isolated lab, PostgreSQL 18.4)Reviewed by Verified against PostgreSQL 18.4 in an isolated lab environment

In 10 seconds

What: Function ended without RETURN
What triggers it: Call a value-returning function whose control flow can reach the end without executing RETURN.
The fix: Ensure every path executes RETURN (add a final RETURN or cover all branches).
Proof: Reproduced on PostgreSQL 18.4 → A function call reproduces SQLSTATE 2F005; a path that reaches the end without RETURN fails, naming the function in the CONTEXT.

The fix

What to do right now

The immediate, application-level response to this error.

Ensure every path executes RETURN (add a final RETURN or cover all branches).
For functions that may legitimately produce nothing, RETURN NULL explicitly.

Fix — SQL

-- Ensure every path returns a value.
SELECT compute_total_fixed();

Diagnose

See it live on the server

Run these against the affected instance to confirm the diagnosis before you act.

Standard triage — not specific to this error

These are canonical PostgreSQL system-catalog queries, shown as SQL to run. No sample output is attached because this is general triage, not a captured lab transcript.

This SQLSTATE does not have an error-specific live snapshot yet. These are the canonical system-catalog queries you run against the affected server to see the problem in real time — standard triage, not a reproduced transcript.

What is running right now

Active backends, how long each has been running, and what it is waiting on.

SELECT pid,
       state,
       wait_event_type,
       wait_event,
       now() - query_start AS running_for,
       left(query, 80)     AS query
FROM   pg_stat_activity
WHERE  state <> 'idle'
  AND  pid <> pg_backend_pid()
ORDER  BY running_for DESC NULLS LAST;

Who is blocking whom

Turn raw blocking PIDs into the actual queries on both sides of the wait.

SELECT blocked.pid    AS blocked_pid,
       blocked.query  AS blocked_query,
       blocking.pid   AS blocking_pid,
       blocking.query AS blocking_query
FROM   pg_stat_activity AS blocked
JOIN   LATERAL unnest(pg_blocking_pids(blocked.pid)) AS b(pid) ON true
JOIN   pg_stat_activity AS blocking ON blocking.pid = b.pid
WHERE  cardinality(pg_blocking_pids(blocked.pid)) > 0;

Locks that are still waiting

Every lock a backend has requested but not yet been granted.

SELECT l.pid,
       l.locktype,
       l.mode,
       l.granted,
       COALESCE(c.relname, l.transactionid::text) AS object
FROM   pg_locks l
LEFT   JOIN pg_class c ON c.oid = l.relation
WHERE  NOT l.granted
ORDER  BY l.pid;

Reproduce & verify

A real, single-session PostgreSQL reproduction

A literal transcript of SQL run against a live PostgreSQL instance in an isolated lab — the commands below are exactly what was executed.

1Call a value-returning function whose control flow can reach the end without executing RETURN.
2The function body runs and falls off the end with no value to return.
3The call aborts with SQLSTATE 2F005 and names the function in the CONTEXT.

A function returned a value only inside a conditional, and an input that skipped that branch fell off the end without returning.

Schema setup

CREATE FUNCTION compute_total() RETURNS int LANGUAGE plpgsql AS $$ BEGIN PERFORM 1; END $$; CREATE FUNCTION compute_total_fixed() RETURNS int LANGUAGE plpgsql AS $$ BEGIN RETURN 42; END $$;

Falling off the end without RETURN

SELECT compute_total();

The session continues normally

SELECT 'ok' AS session_after_error;

What PostgreSQL actually returned

Schema setup output

CREATE FUNCTION
CREATE FUNCTION

Falling off the end without RETURN output

ERROR:  control reached end of function without RETURN
CONTEXT:  PL/pgSQL function compute_total()

The session continues normally output

 session_after_error 
---------------------
 ok
(1 row)

Related & next steps

Follow the thread

Everything this error touches — jump straight to the sibling error, term, runbook, or parameter.

Verification

PG 18.4

Last verified: 2026-07-24 (isolated lab, PostgreSQL 18.4)
Reviewed by: Verified against PostgreSQL 18.4 in an isolated lab environment
Audit status: reviewed