CTE works as expected, but not when wrapped into a function

--testing table
CREATE TABLE public.test_patient_table (
                entity_id INTEGER NOT NULL,
                site_held_at INTEGER NOT NULL,
                CONSTRAINT entityid_pk PRIMARY KEY (entity_id)
);

CREATE TABLE public.test_messageq_table (
                entity_id VARCHAR NOT NULL,
                master_id INTEGER NOT NULL,
                message_body VARCHAR NOT NULL,
                CONSTRAINT mq_entity_id_pk PRIMARY KEY (entity_id)
);

CREATE INDEX test_patient_table_siteid_idx
 ON public.test_patient_table
 ( site_held_at );

ALTER TABLE public.test_messageq_table
ADD CONSTRAINT test_patient_table_test_messageq_table_fk
FOREIGN KEY (master_id)
REFERENCES public.test_patient_table (entity_id)
ON DELETE NO ACTION
ON UPDATE NO ACTION
NOT DEFERRABLE;

--test patient data
insert into test_patient_table values (1, 11111);
insert into test_patient_table values (2, 11111);
insert into test_patient_table values (3, 11111);
insert into test_patient_table values (4, 11111);

insert into test_patient_table values (5, 22222);
insert into test_patient_table values (6, 22222);
insert into test_patient_table values (7, 22222);
insert into test_patient_table values (8, 22222);

insert into test_patient_table values (9, 33333);
insert into test_patient_table values (10, 33333);

insert into test_patient_table values (11, 44444);

--testing message
insert into test_messageq_table values (1, 1, 'aaa');
insert into test_messageq_table values (2, 1, 'aaa');
insert into test_messageq_table values (3, 1, 'aaa');
insert into test_messageq_table values (4, 1, 'aaa');
insert into test_messageq_table values (5, 2, 'aaa');
insert into test_messageq_table values (6, 2, 'aaa');
insert into test_messageq_table values (7, 5, 'aaa');
insert into test_messageq_table values (8, 8, 'aaa');
insert into test_messageq_table values (9, 11, 'aaa');
insert into test_messageq_table values (10, 11, 'bbb');

When I tried to find all messages from message table in site I am intere

I think this is because you only ever return the first row from the query's result.

The select ... into ... will only retrieve one row and the query select * from result returns only that single record:

You also don't need a PL/pgSQL function, a plain SQL function will work just fine:

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION getMessageFromSites(ids TEXT) RETURNS 
   setof test_messageq_table 
AS 
$ 
  WITH patient_msg_in_branches AS (
      select distinct test_messageq_table.master_id AS patient_id,
             test_patient_table.site_held_at as site_id
      from test_messageq_table 
         join test_patient_table ON test_messageq_table.master_id = test_patient_table.entity_id 
                                and site_held_at = ANY (string_to_array(ids,',')::int[]) 
  ),
  messages_for_patients AS
  (
    select * 
    from test_messageq_table 
    where master_id in (select patient_msg_in_branches.patient_id 
                        from patient_msg_in_branches)
  )
  select * 
  from messages_for_patients;
$ 
LANGUAGE sql;

Note that the order by inside the CTE is not really useful. You have to sort the final select, not the intermediate steps.

If you do need PL/pgSQL because you are doing more stuff in the function, you should simply change it to:

begin
  ....
  return query
    WITH patient_msg_in_branches AS (
        select distinct test_messageq_table.master_id AS patient_id,
        test_patient_table.site_held_at as site_id
        from test_messageq_table 
        inner join test_patient_table 
        ON test_messageq_table.master_id = test_patient_table.entity_id 
        and site_held_at = ANY(sites) order by patient_id
    ),
    messages_for_patients AS(
        select * from test_messageq_table where master_id in 
            (select patient_msg_in_branches.patient_id 
                from patient_msg_in_branches)
    )
    select * from messages_for_patients;
end;

StackExchange Database Administrators Q#81460, answer score: 8