# CURRENT\_ROLE

## Syntax

```sql
CURRENT_ROLE, CURRENT_ROLE()
```

## Description

Returns the current [role](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/security/user-account-management/roles) name. The return value is a string in the\
utf8 [character set](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/data-types/string-data-types/character-sets).

If there is no current role, `NULL` is returned.

[USER()](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/sql-functions/secondary-functions/information-functions/user) returns the combination of user and host used to login. [CURRENT\_USER()](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/sql-functions/secondary-functions/information-functions/current_user) returns the account used to determine current connection's privileges.

Statements using the `CURRENT_ROLE` function are not [safe for statement-based replication](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/ha-and-performance/standard-replication/unsafe-statements-for-statement-based-replication).

## Examples

```sql
SELECT CURRENT_ROLE;
+--------------+
| CURRENT_ROLE |
+--------------+
| NULL         |
+--------------+

SET ROLE staff;

SELECT CURRENT_ROLE;
+--------------+
| CURRENT_ROLE |
+--------------+
| staff        |
+--------------+
```

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