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SET(5)
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 the section called ``Run-time Configuration''
  in the documentation 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 overridden 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.

PARAMETERS
  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
       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 the section called ``Run-time Configuration'' in the
       documentation and below.

  value
       New value of parameter. Values can be specified as string constants,
       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 the section called
  ``Run-time Configuration'' in the documentation, there are a few that can
  only be adjusted using the SET command 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 the section called ``Date/Time Types'' in the documentation for more
  information about time zones.

NOTES
  The function set_config provides equivalent functionality. See the section
  called ``Miscellaneous Functions'' in the documentation.

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 PostgreSQL extensions.

SEE ALSO
  RESET [reset(5)], SHOW [show(l)]

Index for Section 5

Alphabetical listing for S

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