# 45.6. Trigger Functions

When a function is used as a trigger, the dictionary `TD` contains trigger-related values:`TD["event"]`

contains the event as a string: `INSERT`, `UPDATE`, `DELETE`, or `TRUNCATE`.`TD["when"]`

contains one of `BEFORE`, `AFTER`, or `INSTEAD OF`.`TD["level"]`

contains `ROW` or `STATEMENT`.`TD["new"]`\
`TD["old"]`

For a row-level trigger, one or both of these fields contain the respective trigger rows, depending on the trigger event.`TD["name"]`

contains the trigger name.`TD["table_name"]`

contains the name of the table on which the trigger occurred.`TD["table_schema"]`

contains the schema of the table on which the trigger occurred.`TD["relid"]`

contains the OID of the table on which the trigger occurred.`TD["args"]`

If the `CREATE TRIGGER` command included arguments, they are available in `TD["args"][0]` to `TD["args"][`*`n`*-1].

If `TD["when"]` is `BEFORE` or `INSTEAD OF` and `TD["level"]` is `ROW`, you can return `None` or `"OK"` from the Python function to indicate the row is unmodified, `"SKIP"` to abort the event, or if `TD["event"]` is `INSERT` or `UPDATE` you can return `"MODIFY"` to indicate you've modified the new row. Otherwise the return value is ignored.


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