SET SQL - Language Statements SET SESSION CHARACTERISTICS Set per-session run-time parameters SET SESSION CHARACTERISTICS TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL { READ COMMITTED | SERIALIZABLE } SET SESSION CHARACTERISTICS TIME ZONE { 'timezone' | LOCAL | DEFAULT } Description SET SESSION CHARACTERISTICS changes the run-time environment for the entire SQL session. Currently, transaction isolation level and time zone can be specified by this command. Use to show the current setting of a parameters. Refer to and to for more information on allowed parameters. Examples Set the timezone for Berkeley, California, using double quotes to preserve the uppercase attributes of the time zone specifier (note that the date/time format is ISO here): SET SESSION CHARACTERISTICS TIME ZONE "PST8PDT"; SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP AS today; today ------------------------ 1998-07-14 07:41:21-07 Compatibility SQL99 SET SESSION is defined in SQL99.