SQL COMMANDS / SESSIONS & SETTINGS

SHOW

show the value of a run-time parameter

Syntax

SHOW name
SHOW ALL

Syntax diagrams

Read left to right. Branches are choices, bypasses are optional, loops repeat. Select an underlined parameter to open its rule.

SHOW · Syntax 2

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 19 for details.

Parameters

name

The name of a run-time parameter. Available parameters are documented in Chapter 19 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.
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 9.28.1. 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
-------------------------+---------+-------------------------------------------------
 allow_system_table_mods | off     | Allows modifications of the structure of ...
    .
    .
    .
 xmloption               | content | Sets whether XML data in implicit parsing ...
 zero_damaged_pages      | off     | Continues processing past damaged page headers.
(196 rows)

Compatibility

The SHOW command is a PostgreSQL extension.

Related entries

Definition snapshot: 2026-09-14T13:14:25.700916+00:00@99e6866c · English manual source