SET(7) SQL Commands SET(7)
NAME
SET - change a run-time parameter
SYNOPSIS
SET [ SESSION | LOCAL ] variable { TO | = } { value | 'value' | DEFAULT }
SET [ SESSION | LOCAL ] TIME ZONE { timezone | LOCAL | DEFAULT }
INPUTS
SESSION
Specifies that the command takes effect for the current session. (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 setting takes
effect again. Note that SET LOCAL will appear to have no effect if it's executed outside a BEGIN block, since the transaction will
end immediately.
variable
A settable run-time parameter.
value New value of parameter. DEFAULT can be used to specify resetting the parameter to its default value. Lists of strings are allowed,
but more complex constructs may need to be single or double quoted.
DESCRIPTION
The SET command changes run-time configuration parameters. Many of the run-time parameters listed in the Administrator's Guide 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.)
Note that 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 transaction, 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 transaction is
committed) the SET value will take effect.
Even with autocommit set to off, SET does not start a new transaction block. See the autocommit section of the Administrator's Guide for
details.
Here are additional details about a few of the parameters that can be set:
DATESTYLE
Choose the date/time representation style. Two separate settings are involved: the default date/time output and the interpretation
of ambiguous input.
The following are date/time output styles:
ISO Use ISO 8601-style dates and times (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS). This is the default.
SQL Use Oracle/Ingres-style dates and times. Note that this style has nothing to do with SQL (which mandates ISO 8601 style), the
naming of this option is a historical accident.
PostgreSQL
Use traditional PostgreSQL format.
German Use dd.mm.yyyy for numeric date representations.
The following two options determine both a substyle of the ``SQL'' and ``PostgreSQL'' output formats and the preferred interpretation of
ambiguous date input.
European
Use dd/mm/yyyy for numeric date representations.
NonEuropean
US Use mm/dd/yyyy for numeric date representations.
A value for SET DATESTYLE can be one from the first list (output styles), or one from the second list (substyles), or one from each sepa-
rated by a comma.
SET DATESTYLE affects interpretation of input and provides several standard output formats. For applications needing different variations
or tighter control over input or output, consider using the to_char family of functions.
There are several now-deprecated means for setting the date style in addition to the normal methods of setting it via SET or a configura-
tion-file entry:
Setting the postmaster's PGDATESTYLE environment variable. (This will be overridden by any of the other methods.)
Running postmaster using the option -o -e to set dates to the European convention. (This overrides environment variables and configura-
tion-file entries.)
Setting the client's PGDATESTYLE environment variable. If PGDATESTYLE is set in the frontend environment of a client based on libpq, libpq
will automatically set DATESTYLE to the value of PGDATESTYLE during connection start-up. This is equivalent to a manually issued SET DAT-
ESTYLE.
NAMES SET NAMES is an alias for SET CLIENT_ENCODING.
SEED Sets the internal seed for the random number generator.
value The value for the seed to be used by the random function. 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 setseed SQL function:
SELECT setseed(value);
SERVER_ENCODING
Shows the server-side multibyte encoding. (At present, this parameter can be shown but not set, because the encoding is determined
at initdb time.)
TIME ZONE
TIMEZONE
Sets the default time zone for your session. Arguments can be an SQL time interval constant, an integer or double precision con-
stant, or a string representing a time zone name recognized by the host operating system.
Here are some typical values for time zone settings:
'PST8PDT'
Set the time zone for Berkeley, California.
'Portugal'
Set the time zone for Portugal.
'Europe/Rome'
Set the time zone for Italy.
7 Set the time zone to 7 hours offset west from GMT (equivalent to PDT).
INTERVAL '08:00' HOUR TO MINUTE
Set the time zone to 8 hours offset west from GMT (equivalent to PST).
LOCAL
DEFAULT
Set the time zone to your local time zone (the one that your operating system defaults to).
The available time zone names depend on your operating system. For example, on Linux /usr/share/zoneinfo contains the database of time
zones; the names of the files in that directory can be used as parameters to this command.
If an invalid time zone is specified, the time zone becomes GMT (on most systems anyway).
If the PGTZ environment variable is set in the frontend environment of a client based on libpq, libpq will automatically SET TIMEZONE to
the value of PGTZ during connection start-up.
Use SHOW [show(7)] to show the current setting of a parameter.
DIAGNOSTICS
SET Message returned if successful.
ERROR: 'name is not a
The parameter you tried to set does not exist.
ERROR: 'name':
You must be a superuser to alter certain settings.
ERROR: 'name' cannot
Some parameters are fixed once the server is started.
EXAMPLES
Set the style of date to traditional PostgreSQL with European conventions:
SET DATESTYLE TO PostgreSQL,European;
Set the time zone for Berkeley, California, using quotes to preserve the uppercase spelling of the time zone name (note that the date style
is PostgreSQL for this example):
SET TIME ZONE 'PST8PDT';
SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP AS today;
today
------------------------------------
Tue Feb 26 07:32:21.42834 2002 PST
Set the time zone for Italy (note the required single quotes to handle the special characters):
SET TIME ZONE 'Europe/Rome';
SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP AS today;
today
-------------------------------
2002-10-08 05:39:35.008271+02
COMPATIBILITY
SQL92
SET TIME ZONE extends syntax defined in SQL9x. SQL9x allows only numeric time zone offsets while PostgreSQL allows full time zone specifier
strings as well. All other SET features are PostgreSQL extensions.
SEE ALSO
The function set_config provides the equivalent capability. See Miscellaneous Functions in the PostgreSQL User's Guide.
SQL - Language Statements 2002-11-22 SET(7)