SET(7)			PostgreSQL 9.2.24 Documentation			SET(7)



NAME
       SET - change a run-time parameter

SYNOPSIS
       SET [ SESSION | LOCAL ] configuration_parameter { 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 Chapter 18, Server 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 equivalently SET SESSION) is issued within a transaction
       that is later aborted, the effects of the SET command disappear when
       the transaction is rolled back. 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.

       The effects of SET or SET LOCAL are also canceled by rolling back to a
       savepoint that is earlier than the command.

       If SET LOCAL is used within a function that has a SET option for the
       same variable (see CREATE FUNCTION (CREATE_FUNCTION(7))), the effects
       of the SET LOCAL command disappear at function exit; that is, the value
       in effect when the function was called is restored anyway. This allows
       SET LOCAL to be used for dynamic or repeated changes of a parameter
       within a function, while still having the convenience of using the SET
       option to save and restore the caller's value. However, a regular SET
       command overrides any surrounding function's SET option; its effects
       will persist unless rolled back.

	   Note
	   In PostgreSQL versions 8.0 through 8.2, the effects of a SET LOCAL
	   would be canceled by releasing an earlier savepoint, or by
	   successful exit from a PL/pgSQL exception block. This behavior has
	   been changed because it was deemed unintuitive.

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.

       configuration_parameter
	   Name of a settable run-time parameter. Available parameters are
	   documented in Chapter 18, Server 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,
	   as appropriate for the particular parameter.	 DEFAULT can be
	   written to specify resetting the parameter to its default value
	   (that is, whatever value it would have had if no SET had been
	   executed in the current session).

       Besides the configuration parameters documented in Chapter 18, Server
       Configuration, in the documentation, there are a few that can only be
       adjusted using the SET command or that have a special syntax:

       SCHEMA
	   SET SCHEMA 'value' is an alias for SET search_path TO value. Only
	   one schema can be specified using this 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
	   -1 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:

	   'PST8PDT'
	       The time zone for Berkeley, California.

	   '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 (that is, the
	       server's default value of timezone).

	   See Section 8.5.3, "Time Zones", in the documentation for more
	   information about time zones.

NOTES
       The function set_config provides equivalent functionality; see Section
       9.26, "System Administration Functions", in the documentation. Also, it
       is possible to UPDATE the pg_settings system view to perform the
       equivalent of SET.

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:

	   SET TIME ZONE 'PST8PDT';

       Set the time zone for Italy:

	   SET TIME ZONE 'Europe/Rome';

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(7), SHOW(7)



PostgreSQL 9.2.24		  2017-11-06				SET(7)