SHOW(7)

💖 SHOW(7) 💖

okay so this is SHOW(7), straight out of the PostgreSQL 16.15 documentation — manual section 7, and we're doing the whole thing. let's go, bestie. 🫶

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🎀 NAME 🎀

SHOW — show the value of a run-time parameter. short, sweet, iconic. periodt.

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

SHOW name
SHOW ALL

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so 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. no cap, that's the whole vibe.

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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:
  • 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.

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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. iykyk.

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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

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. that's the whole compatibility section, periodt.

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🫶 SEE ALSO 🫶

• SET(7) — bestie, go peek.
• RESET(7) — also go peek.

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🫶 okay that's the whole SHOW(7) page, bestie! source/version: PostgreSQL 16.15; date: 2026. periodt. 💖