SHOW(7)

💖 SHOW(7) 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the glow-up of the PostgreSQL 14.24 docs — this is the SHOW page and it's literally about peeking at your runtime parameters. yes, the manual is called SHOW(7) and yes you're gonna slay this. 🫶

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

SHOW name
SHOW ALL

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🌸 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 20 for details, bestie — it's giving "required reading" but in a cute way. 📚

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🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

• name — the name of a run-time parameter. available parameters are documented in Chapter 20 and on the SET(7) reference page. plus, there are a few parameters that can be shown but not set — lowkey special guests that only appear on the read-only list:
  • SERVER_VERSION — shows the server's version number. iconic. 💅
  • 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. no take-backsies, it's set in stone (well, in the database). 🪨
  • 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 database creation time. same vibe: you can look, bestie, but you cannot touch. ✋
  • 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 database creation time. again: created once, and that's periodt. 💀
  • IS_SUPERUSER — True if the current role has superuser privileges. so if you're the main character with root energy, this one's for you. 👑
• ALL — show the values of all configuration parameters, with descriptions. it's the full buffet, no skimping. 🍓

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🦋 NOTES 🦋

the function current_setting produces equivalent output; see Section 9.27.1. also, the pg_settings system view produces the same information. so if you're out here like "bestie, is there another way?" — yes, there's literally always another way. 🌈

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🧚 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 — the whole mood board of your database:

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)

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💜 COMPATIBILITY 💜

the SHOW command is a PostgreSQL extension. so no, bestie, this isn't some SQL-standard moment — it's our special little thing. 🫶

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⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

SET(7), RESET(7) — go check 'em out, they're basically the siblings of this page.

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and that's the whole page, bestie — SHOW(7) from the PostgreSQL 14.24 documentation, dated 2026, served with a sprinkle of glitter and zero lost details. you're welcome. 💅✨