Syntax

SHOW [GLOBAL | SESSION] VARIABLES
    [LIKE 'pattern' | WHERE expr]

Description

SHOW VARIABLES shows the values of MariaDB system variables. This information also can be obtained using the mysqladmin variables command. The LIKE clause, if present, indicates which variable names to match. The WHERE clause can be given to select rows using more general conditions.

With the GLOBAL modifier, SHOW VARIABLES displays the values that are used for new connections to MariaDB. With SESSION, it displays the values that are in effect for the current connection. If no modifier is present, the default is SESSION. LOCAL is a synonym for SESSION. With a LIKE clause, the statement displays only rows for those variables with names that match the pattern. To obtain the row for a specific variable, use a LIKE clause as shown:

SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'maria_group_commit';
SHOW SESSION VARIABLES LIKE 'maria_group_commit';

To get a list of variables whose name match a pattern, use the "%" wildcard character in a LIKE clause:

SHOW VARIABLES LIKE '%maria%';
SHOW GLOBAL VARIABLES LIKE '%maria%';

Wildcard characters can be used in any position within the pattern to be matched. Strictly speaking, because "_" is a wildcard that matches any single character, you should escape it as "\_" to match it literally. In practice, this is rarely necessary.

The WHERE and LIKE clauses can be given to select rows using more general conditions, as discussed in Extended SHOW.

See SET for information on setting server system variables.

See Server System Variables for a list of all the variables that can be set.

You can also see the server variables by querying the Information Schema GLOBAL_VARIABLES and SESSION_VARIABLES tables.

Examples

SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'aria%';
+------------------------------------------+---------------------+
| Variable_name                            | Value               |
+------------------------------------------+---------------------+
| aria_block_size                          | 8192                |
| aria_checkpoint_interval                 | 30                  |
| aria_checkpoint_log_activity             | 1048576             |
| aria_force_start_after_recovery_failures | 0                   |
| aria_group_commit                        | none                |
| aria_group_commit_interval               | 0                   |
| aria_log_file_size                       | 1073741824          |
| aria_log_purge_type                      | immediate           |
| aria_max_sort_file_size                  | 9223372036853727232 |
| aria_page_checksum                       | ON                  |
| aria_pagecache_age_threshold             | 300                 |
| aria_pagecache_buffer_size               | 134217728           |
| aria_pagecache_division_limit            | 100                 |
| aria_recover                             | NORMAL              |
| aria_repair_threads                      | 1                   |
| aria_sort_buffer_size                    | 134217728           |
| aria_stats_method                        | nulls_unequal       |
| aria_sync_log_dir                        | NEWFILE             |
| aria_used_for_temp_tables                | ON                  |
+------------------------------------------+---------------------+

SELECT VARIABLE_NAME, SESSION_VALUE, GLOBAL_VALUE FROM
  INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SYSTEM_VARIABLES WHERE
  VARIABLE_NAME LIKE 'max_error_count' OR
  VARIABLE_NAME LIKE 'innodb_sync_spin_loops';
+---------------------------+---------------+--------------+
| VARIABLE_NAME             | SESSION_VALUE | GLOBAL_VALUE |
+---------------------------+---------------+--------------+
| MAX_ERROR_COUNT           | 64            | 64           |
| INNODB_SYNC_SPIN_LOOPS    | NULL          | 30           |
+---------------------------+---------------+--------------+

SET GLOBAL max_error_count=128;

SELECT VARIABLE_NAME, SESSION_VALUE, GLOBAL_VALUE FROM
  INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SYSTEM_VARIABLES WHERE
  VARIABLE_NAME LIKE 'max_error_count' OR
  VARIABLE_NAME LIKE 'innodb_sync_spin_loops';
+---------------------------+---------------+--------------+
| VARIABLE_NAME             | SESSION_VALUE | GLOBAL_VALUE |
+---------------------------+---------------+--------------+
| MAX_ERROR_COUNT           | 64            | 128          |
| INNODB_SYNC_SPIN_LOOPS    | NULL          | 30           |
+---------------------------+---------------+--------------+

SET GLOBAL max_error_count=128;

SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'max_error_count';
+-----------------+-------+
| Variable_name   | Value |
+-----------------+-------+
| max_error_count | 64    |
+-----------------+-------+

SHOW GLOBAL VARIABLES LIKE 'max_error_count';
+-----------------+-------+
| Variable_name   | Value |
+-----------------+-------+
| max_error_count | 128   |
+-----------------+-------+

Because the following variable only has a global scope, the global value is returned even when specifying SESSION (in this case by default):

SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'innodb_sync_spin_loops';
+------------------------+-------+
| Variable_name          | Value |
+------------------------+-------+
| innodb_sync_spin_loops | 30    |
+------------------------+-------+