by <application>psql</application>. They represent certain option
settings that can be changed at run time by altering the value of
the variable, or in some cases represent changeable state of
- <application>psql</application>. Although
- you can use these variables for other purposes, this is not
- recommended, as the program behavior might grow really strange
- really quickly. By convention, all specially treated variables' names
+ <application>psql</application>.
+ By convention, all specially treated variables' names
consist of all upper-case ASCII letters (and possibly digits and
underscores). To ensure maximum compatibility in the future, avoid
using such variable names for your own purposes. A list of all specially
start-up, use the switch <option>-a</option>. If set to
<literal>queries</literal>,
<application>psql</application> prints each query to standard output
- as it is sent to the server. The switch for this is
+ as it is sent to the server. The switch to select this behavior is
<option>-e</option>. If set to <literal>errors</literal>, then only
failed queries are displayed on standard error output. The switch
- for this is <option>-b</option>. If unset, or if set to
- <literal>none</literal> (or any other value than those above) then
- no queries are displayed.
+ for this behavior is <option>-b</option>. If unset, or if set to
+ <literal>none</literal>, then no queries are displayed.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<listitem>
<para>
The current client character set encoding.
+ This is set every time you connect to a database (including
+ program start-up), and when you change the encoding
+ with <literal>\encoding</>, but it can be unset.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
list. If set to a value of <literal>ignoredups</literal>, lines
matching the previous history line are not entered. A value of
<literal>ignoreboth</literal> combines the two options. If
- unset, or if set to <literal>none</literal> (or any other value
- than those above), all lines read in interactive mode are
- saved on the history list.
+ unset, or if set to <literal>none</literal> (the default), all lines
+ read in interactive mode are saved on the history list.
</para>
<note>
<para>
to an interactive session of <application>psql</application>
will terminate the application. If set to a numeric value,
that many <acronym>EOF</> characters are ignored before the
- application terminates. If the variable is set but has no
+ application terminates. If the variable is set but not to a
numeric value, the default is 10.
</para>
<note>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><varname>VERSION</varname></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This variable is set at program start-up to
+ reflect <application>psql</>'s version. It can be unset or changed.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
</variablelist>
</refsect3>