Sets whether DOCUMENT or CONTENT is implicit when converting between XML and character string values.
At a glance
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Parameter | xmloption |
| Category | Client Connection Defaults |
| Default | CONTENT |
| Value type | enum |
| Change scope | Per-session (SET) |
| Available in | PostgreSQL 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 (added in 12) |
What it does
Sets whether DOCUMENT or CONTENT is implicit when converting between XML and character string values. See datatype_xml for a description of this. Valid values are DOCUMENT and CONTENT. The default is CONTENT.
According to the SQL standard, the command to set this option is SET XML OPTION { DOCUMENT | CONTENT }; This syntax is also available in PostgreSQL.
(Description quoted from the official PostgreSQL documentation.)
How to apply a change
Can be set per session with SET, per role/database with ALTER ROLE/DATABASE ... SET, or globally in postgresql.conf.
Inspect the current value and source with SHOW xmloption; or SELECT name, setting, unit, context, source FROM pg_settings WHERE name = 'xmloption';.
Tuning guidance
This sets a session default (locale, formatting, search path or transaction behaviour) rather than a performance knob. Set it per role or database with ALTER ROLE/DATABASE ... SET so the right default follows the right workload, and prefer setting it explicitly in the application for behaviour the query results depend on.