SET

Assign values to different types of variables. Learn the syntax for setting user-defined variables, system variables, and stored program variables.

Syntax

SET variable_assignment [, variable_assignment] ...

variable_assignment:
      user_var_name = expr
    | [GLOBAL | SESSION] system_var_name = expr
    | [@@global. | @@session. | @@]system_var_name = expr

One can also set a user variable in any expression with this syntax:

user_var_name:= expr

Description

Current

The SET statement assigns values to different types of variables that affect the operation of the server or your client.

< 10.0

Changing a system variable by using the SET statement does not make the change permanently. To do so, the change must be made in a configuration file.

For setting variables on a per-query basis, see SET STATEMENT.

See SHOW VARIABLES for documentation on viewing server system variables.

See Server System Variables for a list of all the system variables.

GLOBAL / SESSION

When setting a system variable, the scope can be specified as either GLOBAL or SESSION.

A global variable change affects all new sessions. It does not affect any currently open sessions, including the one that made the change.

A session variable change affects the current session only.

If the variable has a session value, not specifying either GLOBAL or SESSION will be the same as specifying SESSION. If the variable only has a global value, not specifying GLOBAL or SESSION will apply to the change to the global value.

DEFAULT

Setting a global variable to DEFAULT will restore it to the server default, and setting a session variable to DEFAULT will restore it to the current global value.

Examples

• innodb_sync_spin_loops is a global variable.

• skip_parallel_replication is a session variable.

• max_error_count is both global and session.

SELECT VARIABLE_NAME, SESSION_VALUE, GLOBAL_VALUE FROM
 INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SYSTEM_VARIABLES WHERE 
  VARIABLE_NAME IN ('max_error_count', 'skip_parallel_replication', 'innodb_sync_spin_loops');
+---------------------------+---------------+--------------+
| VARIABLE_NAME             | SESSION_VALUE | GLOBAL_VALUE |
+---------------------------+---------------+--------------+
| MAX_ERROR_COUNT           | 64            | 64           |
| SKIP_PARALLEL_REPLICATION | OFF           | NULL         |
| INNODB_SYNC_SPIN_LOOPS    | NULL          | 30           |
+---------------------------+---------------+--------------+

Setting the session values:

SET max_error_count=128;Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.000 sec)

SET skip_parallel_replication=ON;Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.000 sec)

SET innodb_sync_spin_loops=60;
ERROR 1229 (HY000): Variable 'innodb_sync_spin_loops' is a GLOBAL variable 
  and should be set with SET GLOBAL

SELECT VARIABLE_NAME, SESSION_VALUE, GLOBAL_VALUE FROM
 INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SYSTEM_VARIABLES WHERE 
  VARIABLE_NAME IN ('max_error_count', 'skip_parallel_replication', 'innodb_sync_spin_loops');
+---------------------------+---------------+--------------+
| VARIABLE_NAME             | SESSION_VALUE | GLOBAL_VALUE |
+---------------------------+---------------+--------------+
| MAX_ERROR_COUNT           | 128           | 64           |
| SKIP_PARALLEL_REPLICATION | ON            | NULL         |
| INNODB_SYNC_SPIN_LOOPS    | NULL          | 30           |
+---------------------------+---------------+--------------+

Setting the global values:

SET GLOBAL max_error_count=256;

SET GLOBAL skip_parallel_replication=ON;
ERROR 1228 (HY000): Variable 'skip_parallel_replication' is a SESSION variable 
  and can't be used with SET GLOBAL

SET GLOBAL innodb_sync_spin_loops=120;

SELECT VARIABLE_NAME, SESSION_VALUE, GLOBAL_VALUE FROM
 INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SYSTEM_VARIABLES WHERE 
  VARIABLE_NAME IN ('max_error_count', 'skip_parallel_replication', 'innodb_sync_spin_loops');
+---------------------------+---------------+--------------+
| VARIABLE_NAME             | SESSION_VALUE | GLOBAL_VALUE |
+---------------------------+---------------+--------------+
| MAX_ERROR_COUNT           | 128           | 256          |
| SKIP_PARALLEL_REPLICATION | ON            | NULL         |
| INNODB_SYNC_SPIN_LOOPS    | NULL          | 120          |
+---------------------------+---------------+--------------+

SHOW VARIABLES will by default return the session value unless the variable is global only.

SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'max_error_count';
+-----------------+-------+
| Variable_name   | Value |
+-----------------+-------+
| max_error_count | 128   |
+-----------------+-------+

SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'skip_parallel_replication';
+---------------------------+-------+
| Variable_name             | Value |
+---------------------------+-------+
| skip_parallel_replication | ON    |
+---------------------------+-------+

SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'innodb_sync_spin_loops';
+------------------------+-------+
| Variable_name          | Value |
+------------------------+-------+
| innodb_sync_spin_loops | 120   |
+------------------------+-------+

Using the inplace syntax:

SELECT (@a:=1);
+---------+
| (@a:=1) |
+---------+
|       1 |
+---------+

SELECT @a;
+------+
| @a   |
+------+
|    1 |
+------+

See Also

• Using last_value() to return data of used rows

• SET STATEMENT

• SET Variable

• SET Data Type

• DECLARE Variable

_{This page is licensed: GPLv2, originally from fill_help_tables.sql}