I'd like to set some config parameter "temporarily"; i.e. so that the new setting is active, say, only during the execution of the next SQL statement. This is the best I've come up with: -- first, save the original setting of the parameter CREATE TEMP TABLE save_config AS SELECT setting FROM pg_settings WHERE name = 'some_param'; -- next, set the parameter to its temporary value SET some_param = 'foobar'; -- ...yadda-yadda -- restore the original setting UPDATE pg_settings SET setting = ( SELECT * FROM save_config ) WHERE name = 'some_param'; -- drop the temporary table DROP TABLE save_config; Is there a less laborious approach? The root of needing to go through all this song and dance is that I don't know of any way to set up a simple temporary variable to hold a value. The temporary table is the closest I can come up to implementing a temporary variable. Is there a simpler approach? TIA! kj P.S. Even though the code above works, the Update statement prints out UPDATE 0 at the end. This makes no sense to me; the condition clearly succeeds once, since the update in fact happened, as one can easily confirm. So why the "UPDATE 0" output? ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 6: explain analyze is your friend
