set

SET()				 SQL Commands				SET()



NAME
       SET - change a run-time parameter


SYNOPSIS
       SET [ SESSION | LOCAL ] name { TO | = } { value | ’value’ | DEFAULT }
       SET [ SESSION | LOCAL ] TIME ZONE { timezone | LOCAL | DEFAULT }


DESCRIPTION
       The SET command changes run-time configuration parameters. Many of the
       run-time parameters listed in [XRef to RUNTIME-CONFIG] can be  changed
       on-the-fly  with	 SET.	(But  some  require  superuser	privileges to
       change, and others cannot be changed after server or  session  start.)
       SET only affects the value used by the current session.

       If  SET	or  SET	 SESSION is issued within a transaction that is later
       aborted, the effects of the SET command disappear when the transaction
       is  rolled  back.  (This	 behavior represents a change from PostgreSQL
       versions prior to 7.3, where the effects of SET would  not  roll	 back
       after  a	 later error.) Once the surrounding transaction is committed,
       the effects will persist until the end of the session, unless overrid-
       den by another SET.

       The  effects of SET LOCAL last only till the end of the current trans-
       action, whether committed or not. A special case is  SET	 followed  by
       SET  LOCAL  within  a  single transaction: the SET LOCAL value will be
       seen until the end of the transaction, but afterwards (if the transac-
       tion is committed) the SET value will take effect.

PARAMETERS
       SESSION
	      Specifies	 that  the  command takes effect for the current ses-
	      sion.  (This is  the  default  if	 neither  SESSION  nor	LOCAL
	      appears.)

       LOCAL  Specifies	 that  the  command takes effect for only the current
	      transaction. After COMMIT or ROLLBACK, the  session-level	 set-
	      ting  takes  effect  again.  Note that SET LOCAL will appear to
	      have no effect if it is executed outside a BEGIN	block,	since
	      the transaction will end immediately.

       name   Name of a settable run-time parameter. Available parameters are
	      documented in [XRef to RUNTIME-CONFIG] and below.

       value  New value of parameter. Values can be specified as string	 con-
	      stants,  identifiers,  numbers,  or  comma-separated  lists  of
	      these. DEFAULT can be used to specify resetting  the  parameter
	      to its default value.

       Besides	the  configuration parameters documented in [XRef to RUNTIME-
       CONFIG], there are a few that can only be adjusted using the SET	 com-
       mand or that have a special syntax:

       NAMES  SET NAMES value is an alias for SET client_encoding TO value.

       SEED   Sets  the	 internal  seed	 for the random number generator (the
	      function random). Allowed	 values	 are  floating-point  numbers
	      between 0 and 1, which are then multiplied by 231-1.

	      The seed can also be set by invoking the function setseed:

	      SELECT setseed(value);


       TIME ZONE
	      SET  TIME ZONE value is an alias for SET timezone TO value. The
	      syntax SET TIME ZONE allows special syntax for  the  time	 zone
	      specification. Here are examples of valid values (but note some
	      are accepted only on some platforms):

	      ’PST8PDT’
		     The time zone for Berkeley, California.

	      ’Portugal’
		     The time zone for Portugal.

	      ’Europe/Rome’
		     The time zone for Italy.

	      -7     The time zone 7 hours west from UTC (equivalent to PDT).
		     Positive values are east from UTC.

	      INTERVAL ’-08:00’ HOUR TO MINUTE
		     The time zone 8 hours west from UTC (equivalent to PST).

	      LOCAL

	      DEFAULT
		     Set the time zone to your local time zone (the one	 that
		     the server’s operating system defaults to).

       See [XRef to DATATYPE-DATETIME] for more information about time zones.



NOTES
       The function set_config provides equivalent functionality.  See	[XRef
       to FUNCTIONS-MISC].

EXAMPLES
       Set the schema search path:

       SET search_path TO my_schema, public;


       Set  the	 style	of  date  to  traditional  POSTGRES with ‘‘day before
       month’’ input convention:

       SET datestyle TO postgres, dmy;


       Set the time zone for Berkeley, California, using quotes	 to  preserve
       the uppercase spelling of the time zone name:

       SET TIME ZONE ’PST8PDT’;
       SELECT current_timestamp AS today;

		    today
       -------------------------------
	2003-04-29 15:02:01.218622-07


COMPATIBILITY
       SET TIME ZONE extends syntax defined in the SQL standard. The standard
       allows only numeric time zone offsets  while  PostgreSQL	 allows	 more
       flexible	 time-zone  specifications.  All other SET features are Post-
       greSQL extensions.

SEE ALSO
       RESET [reset(7)], SHOW [show(l)]



SQL - Language Statements	  2008-01-03				SET()