This section describes the syntax for the BEGIN ... END compound statement and other statements that can be used in the body of stored programs: Stored procedures and functions, triggers, and events. These objects are defined in terms of SQL code that is stored on the server for later invocation (see Chapter 27, Stored Objects).

A compound statement is a block that can contain other blocks; declarations for variables, condition handlers, and cursors; and flow control constructs such as loops and conditional tests.