SHOW - show the value of a run-time parameter
Contents
Compatibility
The SHOW command is a PostgreSQL extension.
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.
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)
Name
SHOW - show the value of a run-time parameter
Notes
The function current_setting produces equivalent output; see Section 9.28.1. Also, the pg_settings system
view produces the same information.
Parameters
name
The name of a run-time parameter. Available parameters are documented in Chapter 19 and on the SET(7)
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.
See Also
SET(7), RESET(7) PostgreSQL 17.5 2025 SHOW(7)
Synopsis
SHOW name
SHOW ALL
