On this page 
The SHOW statement can display the value of either one or all of
the session setting variables. Some of these can also be configured via SET.
Required privileges
No privileges are required to display the session settings.
Synopsis
Note:
The SHOW statement for session settings is unrelated to the other SHOW statements: SHOW CLUSTER SETTING, SHOW CREATE, SHOW USERS, SHOW DATABASES, SHOW COLUMNS, SHOW GRANTS, and SHOW CONSTRAINTS.Parameters
The SHOW <session variable> statement accepts a single parameter: the variable name.
The variable name is case insensitive. It may be enclosed in double quotes; this is useful if the variable name itself contains spaces.
Supported variables
| Variable name | Description | Initial value | Modify with
SET
? |
View with
SHOW
? |
application_name
|
The current application name for statistics collection. | Empty string, or cockroach for sessions from the built-in SQL client. |
Yes | Yes |
bytea_output
|
The mode for conversions from STRING to BYTES. |
hex | Yes | Yes |
database
|
The current database. | Database in connection string, or empty if not specified. | Yes | Yes |
default_int_size
|
The size, in bytes, of an INT type. |
8
|
Yes | Yes |
default_transaction_isolation
|
All transactions execute with SERIALIZABLE isolation. See Transactions: Isolation levels. |
SERIALIZABLE
|
No | Yes |
default_transaction_read_only
|
The default transaction access mode for the current session. If set to on, only read operations are allowed in transactions in the current session; if set to off, both read and write operations are allowed. See SET TRANSACTION
for more details. |
off
|
Yes | Yes |
distsql
|
The query distribution mode for the session. By default, CockroachDB determines which queries are faster to execute if distributed across multiple nodes, and all other queries are run through the gateway node. |
auto
|
Yes | Yes |
extra_float_digits
|
The number of digits displayed for floating-point values. Only values between -15 and 3 are supported. |
0
|
Yes | Yes |
reorder_joins_limit
|
Maximum number of joins that the optimizer will attempt to reorder when searching for an optimal query execution plan. For more information, see Join reordering. |
4
|
Yes | Yes |
force_savepoint_restart |
When set to true, allows the SAVEPOINT statement to accept any name for a savepoint. |
off
|
Yes | Yes |
node_id
|
The ID of the node currently connected to. This variable is particularly useful for verifying load balanced connections. |
Node-dependent | No | Yes |
optimizer
|
The mode in which a query execution plan is generated. If set to on, the cost-based optimizer is enabled by default and the heuristic planner will only be used if the query is not supported by the cost-based optimizer; if set to off, all queries are run through the legacy heuristic planner. |
on
|
Yes | Yes |
results_buffer_size
|
The default size of the buffer that accumulates results for a statement or a batch of statements before they are sent to the client. This can also be set for all connections using the 'sql.defaults.results_buffer_size' cluster setting. Note that auto-retries generally only happen while no results have been delivered to the client, so reducing this size can increase the number of retriable errors a client receives. On the other hand, increasing the buffer size can increase the delay until the client receives the first result row. Setting to 0 disables any buffering. |
16384
|
Yes | Yes |
search_path
|
A list of schemas that will be searched to resolve unqualified table or function names. For more details, see SQL name resolution. |
public
|
Yes | Yes |
server_version
|
The version of PostgreSQL that CockroachDB emulates. | Version-dependent | No | Yes |
server_version_num
|
The version of PostgreSQL that CockroachDB emulates. | Version-dependent | Yes | Yes |
session_user
|
The user connected for the current session. | User in connection string | No | Yes |
sql_safe_updates
|
If false, potentially unsafe SQL statements are allowed, including DROP of a non-empty database and all dependent objects, DELETE without a WHERE clause, UPDATE without a WHERE clause, and ALTER TABLE .. DROP COLUMN. See Allow Potentially Unsafe SQL Statements for more details. |
true for interactive sessions from the built-in SQL client,false for sessions from other clients |
Yes | Yes |
statement_timeout
|
The amount of time a statement can run before being stopped. This value can be an int (e.g., 10) and will be interpreted as milliseconds. It can also be an interval or string argument, where the string can be parsed as a valid interval (e.g., '4s'). A value of 0 turns it off. |
0s
|
Yes | Yes |
timezone
|
The default time zone for the current session. This session variable was named "time zone" (with a space) in CockroachDB 1.x. It has been renamed for compatibility with PostgreSQL. |
UTC
|
Yes | Yes |
tracing
|
The trace recording state. |
off
|
Yes | |
transaction_isolation
|
All transactions execute with SERIALIZABLE isolation. See Transactions: Isolation levels. This session variable was called transaction isolation level (with spaces) in CockroachDB 1.x. It has been renamed for compatibility with PostgreSQL. |
SERIALIZABLE
|
No | Yes |
transaction_priority
|
The priority of the current transaction. See Transactions: Isolation levels for more details. This session variable was called transaction priority (with a space) in CockroachDB 1.x. It has been renamed for compatibility with PostgreSQL. |
NORMAL
|
Yes | Yes |
transaction_read_only
|
The access mode of the current transaction. See Set Transaction for more details. |
off
|
Yes | Yes |
transaction_status
|
The state of the current transaction. See Transactions for more details. This session variable was called transaction status (with a space) in CockroachDB 1.x. It has been renamed for compatibility with PostgreSQL. |
NoTxn
|
No | Yes |
client_encoding
|
(Reserved; exposed only for ORM compatibility.) |
UTF8
|
No | Yes |
client_min_messages
|
(Reserved; exposed only for ORM compatibility.) |
notice
|
No | Yes |
datestyle
|
(Reserved; exposed only for ORM compatibility.) |
ISO
|
No | Yes |
integer_datetimes
|
(Reserved; exposed only for ORM compatibility.) |
on
|
No | Yes |
intervalstyle
|
(Reserved; exposed only for ORM compatibility.) |
postgres
|
No | Yes |
max_index_keys
|
(Reserved; exposed only for ORM compatibility.) |
32
|
No | Yes |
standard_conforming_strings
|
(Reserved; exposed only for ORM compatibility.) |
on
|
No | Yes |
server_encoding
|
(Reserved; exposed only for ORM compatibility.) |
UTF8
|
Yes | Yes |
Special syntax cases supported for compatibility:
| Syntax | Equivalent to |
|---|---|
SHOW TRANSACTION PRIORITY |
SHOW "transaction priority" |
SHOW TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL |
SHOW "transaction isolation level" |
SHOW TIME ZONE |
SHOW "timezone" |
SHOW TRANSACTION STATUS |
SHOW "transaction status" |
Examples
Showing the value of a single session variable
> SHOW DATABASE;
+----------+
| database |
+----------+
| test |
+----------+
(1 row)
Showing the value of all session variables
> SHOW ALL;
+--------------------------------+----------------+
| variable | value |
+--------------------------------+----------------+
| application_name | cockroach demo |
| bytea_output | hex |
| client_encoding | UTF8 |
| client_min_messages | notice |
| database | defaultdb |
| datestyle | ISO |
| default_transaction_isolation | serializable |
| default_transaction_read_only | off |
| distsql | auto |
| experimental_enable_zigzag_join | off |
| experimental_opt | on |
| extra_float_digits | 0 |
| integer_datetimes | on |
| intervalstyle | postgres |
| max_index_keys | 32 |
| node_id | 1 |
| search_path | public |
| server_encoding | UTF8 |
| server_version | 9.5.0 |
| server_version_num | 90500 |
| session_user | root |
| sql_safe_updates | true |
| standard_conforming_strings | on |
| statement_timeout | 0s |
| timezone | UTC |
| tracing | off |
| transaction_isolation | serializable |
| transaction_priority | normal |
| transaction_read_only | off |
| transaction_status | NoTxn |
+--------------------------------+----------------+
(31 rows)
See also
SET(session variable)- Transactions, including Priority levels
SHOW CLUSTER SETTINGSHOW COLUMNSSHOW CONSTRAINTSSHOW CREATESHOW DATABASESSHOW GRANTSSHOW INDEXSHOW USERS
Was this helpful?
