PostgreSQL 8.3.5 Documentation
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SHOW

Name

SHOW -- show the value of a run-time parameter

Synopsis

SHOW name
SHOW ALL

Description

SHOW will display the current setting of run-time parameters. These variables can be set using the SET statement, by editing the postgresql.conf configuration file, through the PGOPTIONS environmental variable (when using libpq or a libpq-based application), or through command-line flags when starting the postgres server. See Chapter 18 for details.

Parameters

name

The name of a run-time parameter. Available parameters are documented in Chapter 18 and on the SET reference page. In addition, there are a few parameters that can be shown but not set:

SERVER_VERSION: Shows the server's version number.
SERVER_ENCODING: Shows the server-side character set encoding. At present, this parameter can be shown but not set, because the encoding is determined at database creation time.
LC_COLLATE: Shows the database's locale setting for collation (text ordering). At present, this parameter can be shown but not set, because the setting is determined at initdb time.
LC_CTYPE: Shows the database's locale setting for character classification. At present, this parameter can be shown but not set, because the setting is determined at initdb time.
IS_SUPERUSER: True if the current role has superuser privileges.

ALL

Show the values of all configuration parameters, with descriptions.

Notes

The function current_setting produces equivalent output; see Section 9.23. Also, the pg_settings system view produces the same information.

Examples

Show the current setting of the parameter DateStyle:

SHOW DateStyle;
 DateStyle
-----------
 ISO, MDY
(1 row)

Show the current setting of the parameter geqo:

SHOW geqo;
 geqo
------
 on
(1 row)

Show all settings:

SHOW ALL;
              name              |            setting             |                                         description                                          
--------------------------------+--------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 add_missing_from               | off                            | Automatically adds missing table references to FROM clauses.
 allow_system_table_mods        | off                            | Allows modifications of the structure of system tables.
    .
    .
    .
 work_mem                       | 1024                           | Sets the maximum memory to be used for query workspaces.
 zero_damaged_pages             | off                            | Continues processing past damaged page headers.
(146 rows)

Compatibility

The SHOW command is a PostgreSQL extension.