transliteration in plpgsql

transliterate.sql

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION transliterate(my_text VARCHAR) RETURNS varchar AS $$
DECLARE 
  text_out VARCHAR DEFAULT '';
BEGIN
   text_out := my_text;
   text_out := translate(text_out, 'àâäåáăąãā', 'aaaaaaaaa');
   text_out := replace(text_out, 'æ', 'ae');
   text_out := translate(text_out, 'çċćčĉ', 'ccccc');
   text_out := translate(text_out, 'éèėëêēĕ', 'eeeeeee');
   text_out := translate(text_out, 'îïìíī', 'iiiii');
   text_out := translate(text_out, 'ñ', 'n');
   text_out := translate(text_out, 'ôöøõō', 'ooooo');
   text_out := replace(text_out, 'œ', 'oe');
   text_out := translate(text_out, 'ùúüûū', 'uuuuu');
   text_out := translate(text_out, 'ýÿỳ', 'yyy');
   text_out := replace(text_out, 'ß', 'ss');
   text_out := translate(text_out, 'ÀÂÄÅÁĂĄÃĀ', 'AAAAAAAAA');
   text_out := replace(text_out, 'Æ', 'AE');
   text_out := translate(text_out, 'ÇĊĆČĈ', 'CCCCC');
   text_out := translate(text_out, 'ÉÈĖËÊĒĔ', 'EEEEEEE');
   text_out := translate(text_out, 'ÎÏÌÍĪ', 'IIIII');
   text_out := translate(text_out, 'Ñ', 'N');
   text_out := translate(text_out, 'ÔÖØÕŌ', 'OOOOO');
   text_out := replace(text_out, 'Œ', 'OE');
   text_out := translate(text_out, 'ÙÚÜÛŪ', 'UUUUU');
   text_out := translate(text_out, 'ÝŸỲ', 'YYY');

   RETURN text_out;
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;