can I pass an argument when I use a view in postgresql?

Question

for instance, I want to make a view for a particular search,

create view search_in_structure as
select a,b,c,d,e
from
 t1 natural inner join t2 natural inner join t3 ...
where
 a ilike '%search_string%'
or b ilike '%search_string%'
or c ilike '%search_string%'
or f ilike '%search_string%';

it doesn't make sense because I can't modify search_string. Is there a mechanism to provide a value for search_string so it will execute the view statement with proper modification, something like :

select a,b from search_in_structure where search_string='postgresql 4ever';

if it's not possible, what solution would you recommend me to use and achieve the same result? The only solution I can think of, would be to make a function (for example, search_in_structure (IN search text, OUT a text, OUT b text ...) returns record) and call it like :

select a,b from (select search_in_structure('postgresql 4ever'));

But as I am still a postgresql noob, I want to have expert suggestions.

Answer 1

A function is the way to go:

create function search_in_structure(p_search_value text)
 returns table (a text, b text, c text, d text)
as
$$
select a,b,c,d,e
from t1 
 natural join t2 
 natural join t3 ...
where
 a ilike '%'||p_search_value||'%'
or b ilike '%'||p_search_value||'%'
or c ilike '%'||p_search_value||'%'
or f ilike '%'||p_search_value||'%'
$$
language sql;

Then you can do:

select *
from search_in_structure('foobar');