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4.10.1 Statement Behavior

search_path (string)

This variable specifies the order in which schemas are searched when an object (table, data type, function, etc.) is referenced by a simple name with no schema specified. When there are objects of identical names in different schemas, the one found first in the search path is used. An object that is not in any of the schemas in the search path can only be referenced by specifying its containing schema with a qualified (dotted) name. The value for search_path must be a comma-separated list of schema names. If one of the list items is the special value $user, then the schema having the name returned by SESSION_USER is substituted, if there is such a schema. (If not, $user is ignored.) The system catalog schema, pg_catalog, is always searched, whether it is mentioned in the path or not. If it is mentioned in the path then it will be searched in the specified order. If pg_catalog is not in the path then it will be searched before searching any of the path items. Likewise, the current session's temporary-table schema, pg_temp_nnn, is always searched if it exists. It can be explicitly listed in the path by using the alias pg_temp. If it is not listed in the path then it is searched first (even before pg_catalog). However, the temporary schema is only searched for relation (table, view, sequence, etc) and data type names. It is never searched for function or operator names. When objects are created without specifying a particular target schema, they will be placed in the first schema listed in the search path. An error is reported if the search path is empty. The default value for this parameter is '"$user", public' (where the second part will be ignored if there is no schema named public). This supports shared use of a database (where no users have private schemas, and all share use of public), private per-user schemas, and combinations of these. Other effects can be obtained by altering the default search path setting, either globally or per-user. The current effective value of the search path can be examined via the SQL function current_schemas(). This is not quite the same as examining the value of search_path, since current_schemas() shows how the items appearing in search_path were resolved. For more information on schema handling, see Volume 1A: 3.7 Schemas.

default_tablespace (string)

This variable specifies the default tablespace in which to create objects (tables and indexes) when a CREATE command does not explicitly specify a tablespace. The value is either the name of a tablespace, or an empty string to specify using the default tablespace of the current database. If the value does not match the name of any existing tablespace, PostgreSQL will automatically use the default tablespace of the current database. If a nondefault tablespace is specified, the user must have CREATE privilege for it, or creation attempts will fail. This variable is not used for temporary tables; for them, temp_tablespaces is consulted instead. For more information on tablespaces, see section 7.6 Tablespaces.

temp_tablespaces (string)

This variable specifies tablespaces in which to create temporary objects (temp tables and indexes on temp tables) when a CREATE command does not explicitly specify a tablespace. Temporary files for purposes such as sorting large data sets are also created in these tablespaces. The value is a list of names of tablespaces. When there is more than one name in the list, PostgreSQL chooses a random member of the list each time a temporary object is to be created; except that within a transaction, successively created temporary objects are placed in successive tablespaces from the list. If the selected element of the list is an empty string, PostgreSQL will automatically use the default tablespace of the current database instead. When temp_tablespaces is set interactively, specifying a nonexistent tablespace is an error, as is specifying a tablespace for which the user does not have CREATE privilege. However, when using a previously set value, nonexistent tablespaces are ignored, as are tablespaces for which the user lacks CREATE privilege. In particular, this rule applies when using a value set in ‘postgresql.conf’. The default value is an empty string, which results in all temporary objects being created in the default tablespace of the current database. See also default_tablespace.

check_function_bodies (boolean)

This parameter is normally on. When set to off, it disables validation of the function body string during CREATE FUNCTION. Disabling validation is occasionally useful to avoid problems such as forward references when restoring function definitions from a dump.

default_transaction_isolation (enum)

Each SQL transaction has an isolation level, which can be either “read uncommitted”, “read committed”, “repeatable read”, or “serializable”. This parameter controls the default isolation level of each new transaction. The default is “read committed”. Consult Volume 1A: 11 Concurrency Control and SET TRANSACTION for more information.

default_transaction_read_only (boolean)

A read-only SQL transaction cannot alter non-temporary tables. This parameter controls the default read-only status of each new transaction. The default is off (read/write). Consult SET TRANSACTION for more information.

session_replication_role (enum)

Controls firing of replication-related triggers and rules for the current session. Setting this variable requires superuser privilege and results in discarding any previously cached query plans. Possible values are origin (the default), replica and local. See ALTER TABLE for more information.

statement_timeout (integer)

Abort any statement that takes over the specified number of milliseconds, starting from the time the command arrives at the server from the client. If log_min_error_statement is set to ERROR or lower, the statement that timed out will also be logged. A value of zero (the default) turns this off. Setting statement_timeout in ‘postgresql.conf’ is not recommended because it affects all sessions.

vacuum_freeze_table_age (integer)

VACUUM performs a whole-table scan if the table's pg_class.relfrozenxid field has reached the age specified by this setting. The default is 150 million transactions. Although users can set this value anywhere from zero to one billion, VACUUM will silently limit the effective value to 95% of autovacuum_freeze_max_age, so that a periodical manual VACUUM has a chance to run before an anti-wraparound autovacuum is launched for the table. For more information see section 9.1.4 Preventing Transaction ID Wraparound Failures.

vacuum_freeze_min_age (integer)

Specifies the cutoff age (in transactions) that VACUUM should use to decide whether to replace transaction IDs with FrozenXID while scanning a table. The default is 50 million transactions. Although users can set this value anywhere from zero to one billion, VACUUM will silently limit the effective value to half the value of autovacuum_freeze_max_age, so that there is not an unreasonably short time between forced autovacuums. For more information see section 9.1.4 Preventing Transaction ID Wraparound Failures.

bytea_output (enum)

Sets the output format for values of type bytea. Valid values are hex (the default) and escape (the traditional PostgreSQL format). See Volume 1A: 6.4 Binary Data Types for more information. The bytea type always accepts both formats on input, regardless of this setting.

xmlbinary (enum)

Sets how binary values are to be encoded in XML. This applies for example when bytea values are converted to XML by the functions xmlelement or xmlforest. Possible values are base64 and hex, which are both defined in the XML Schema standard. The default is base64. For further information about XML-related functions, see Volume 1A: 7.14 XML Functions. The actual choice here is mostly a matter of taste, constrained only by possible restrictions in client applications. Both methods support all possible values, although the hex encoding will be somewhat larger than the base64 encoding.

xmloption (enum)

Sets whether DOCUMENT or CONTENT is implicit when converting between XML and character string values. See Volume 1A: 6.13 XML Type for a description of this. Valid values are DOCUMENT and CONTENT. The default is CONTENT. According to the SQL standard, the command to set this option is

SET XML OPTION { DOCUMENT | CONTENT };

This syntax is also available in PostgreSQL.