# Information Schema USER\_VARIABLES Table

## Description

The `USER_VARIABLES` table is created when the [user\_variables](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/plugins/other-plugins/user-variables-plugin) plugin is enabled, and contains information about [user-defined variables](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/sql-structure/sql-language-structure/user-defined-variables).

The table contains the following columns:

| Column               | Description                                                                                             |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| VARIABLE\_NAME       | Variable name.                                                                                          |
| VARIABLE\_VALUE      | Variable value.                                                                                         |
| VARIABLE\_TYPE       | Variable [type](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/data-types).                                  |
| CHARACTER\_SET\_NAME | [Character set](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/data-types/string-data-types/character-sets). |

User variables are reset and the table emptied with the [FLUSH USER\_VARIABLES](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/sql-statements/administrative-sql-statements/flush-commands/flush) statement. `SHOW USER_VARIABLES` displays a subset of the data.

## Example

```sql
SET @v1 = 0;
SET @v2 = 'abc';
SET @v3 = CAST(123 AS CHAR(5));

SELECT * FROM information_schema.USER_VARIABLES ORDER BY VARIABLE_NAME;
+---------------+----------------+---------------+--------------------+
| VARIABLE_NAME | VARIABLE_VALUE | VARIABLE_TYPE | CHARACTER_SET_NAME |
+---------------+----------------+---------------+--------------------+
| v1            | 0              | INT           | latin1             |
| v2            | abc            | VARCHAR       | utf8               |
| v3            | 123            | VARCHAR       | utf8               |
+---------------+----------------+---------------+--------------------+

SHOW USER_VARIABLES;
+---------------+-------+
| Variable_name | Value |
+---------------+-------+
| v3            | 123   |
| v2            | abc   |
| v1            | 0     |
+---------------+-------+
```

## See Also

* [User-defined variables](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/sql-structure/sql-language-structure/user-defined-variables)
* [Performance Schema user\_variables\_by\_thread Table](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/system-tables/performance-schema/performance-schema-tables/performance-schema-user_variables_by_thread-table)

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