Nested writeable CTEs in PostgreSQL 10?

Question

Can I nest writeable CTEs?

WITH "parent_cte" AS (
  WITH "child_cte" AS (
     INSERT INTO ....
  )
  ...
)
...

I know that I can refer to a CTE in the FROM clause of another CTE.

Answer 1

No, modifying CTEs still have to be at the top level.

Testing at Postgres 10.0 produces the error:

WITH clause containing a data-modifying statement must be at the top level.

select version() ;
                                                    version                                                     
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 PostgreSQL 10.0 on x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, compiled by gcc (Ubuntu 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.4) 5.4.0 20160609, 64-bit
(1 row)

x=# create table t (id int, x int) ;
CREATE TABLE
x=# insert into t (id, x) select i, i*2 from generate_series(1,10) as g(i) ;
INSERT 0 10
x=# select * from t ;
 id | x  
----+----
  1 |  2
  2 |  4
  3 |  6
  4 |  8
  5 | 10
  6 | 12
  7 | 14
  8 | 16
  9 | 18
 10 | 20
(10 rows)

x=# with a as 
      ( with b as 
          ( update t set x = x + 3 returning * 
          ) 
        select * from b
      ) 
    select * from a ;
ERROR:  WITH clause containing a data-modifying statement must be at the top level
LINE 2:   with b as (update t set x = x + 3 returning *) select * fr...
               ^
x=#