SYSTEM VIEW · System view

pg_settings

The view pg_settings provides access to run-time parameters of the server. It is essentially an alternative interface to the SHOW and SET commands. It also provides access to some facts about each parameter that are not directly available from SHOW, such as minimum and maximum values.

First seen PG 9.0Last seen PG 19Columns 17

9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19^β3

Checked column by column against a PostgreSQL 18.6 instance · Raw measurement record ↗

Columns PostgreSQL 18

pg_settings

COLUMN	TYPE	DESCRIPTION
`name`	`text`	Run-time configuration parameter name
`setting`	`text`	Current value of the parameter
`unit`	`text`	Implicit unit of the parameter
`category`	`text`	Logical group of the parameter
`short_desc`	`text`	A brief description of the parameter
`extra_desc`	`text`	Additional, more detailed, description of the parameter
`context`	`text`	Context required to set the parameter's value (see below)
`vartype`	`text`	Parameter type (bool, enum, integer, real, or string)
`source`	`text`	Source of the current parameter value
`min_val`	`text`	Minimum allowed value of the parameter (null for non-numeric values)
`max_val`	`text`	Maximum allowed value of the parameter (null for non-numeric values)
`enumvals`	`text[]`	Allowed values of an enum parameter (null for non-enum values)
`boot_val`	`text`	Parameter value assumed at server startup if the parameter is not otherwise set
`reset_val`	`text`	Value that RESET would reset the parameter to in the current session
`sourcefile`	`text`	Configuration file the current value was set in (null for values set from sources other than configuration files, or when examined by a user who neither is a superuser nor has privileges of pg_read_all_settings); helpful when using include directives in configuration files
`sourceline`	`integer`Documented as:`int4`	Line number within the configuration file the current value was set at (null for values set from sources other than configuration files, or when examined by a user who neither is a superuser nor has privileges of pg_read_all_settings).
`pending_restart`	`boolean`Documented as:`bool`	true if the value has been changed in the configuration file but needs a restart; or false otherwise.

Columns marked "implicit" are not included in SELECT *; some early statistics views are completed from same-version source, and the extra provenance is shown in the column description.

Column evolution matrix

Hover a cell for the column type

PresentAdded / type or attribute changeRemoved

COLUMN	9.0	9.1	9.2	9.3	9.4
`name`
`setting`
`unit`
`category`
`short_desc`
`extra_desc`
`context`
`vartype`
`source`
`min_val`
`max_val`
`enumvals`
`boot_val`
`reset_val`
`sourcefile`
`sourceline`
`pending_restart`	–	–	–	–	–

9.0 is the coverage baseline; a column already present in the baseline is not marked as added. The matrix aligns columns by name, so a rename appears as the old column removed and a new column added.

Evolution timeline

Changes between adjacent majors

PostgreSQL 15 ← 14

2 column description updates

PostgreSQL 10 ← 9.6

2 column description updates

PostgreSQL 9.5 ← 9.4

+ pending_restart

PostgreSQL 9.1 ← 9.0

1 column description updates

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