PostgreSQL 9.2.7 Documentation
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# SET CONSTRAINTS

## Name

SET CONSTRAINTS -- set constraint check timing for the current transaction

## Synopsis

    SET CONSTRAINTS { ALL | name [, ...] } { DEFERRED | IMMEDIATE }

## Description

`SET CONSTRAINTS` sets the behavior of constraint checking within the current transaction. `IMMEDIATE` constraints are checked at the end of each statement. `DEFERRED` constraints are not checked until transaction commit. Each constraint has its own `IMMEDIATE` or `DEFERRED` mode.

Upon creation, a constraint is given one of three characteristics: `DEFERRABLE INITIALLY DEFERRED`, `DEFERRABLE INITIALLY IMMEDIATE`, or `NOT DEFERRABLE`. The third class is always `IMMEDIATE` and is not affected by the `SET CONSTRAINTS` command. The first two classes start every transaction in the indicated mode, but their behavior can be changed within a transaction by `SET CONSTRAINTS`.

`SET CONSTRAINTS` with a list of constraint names changes the mode of just those constraints (which must all be deferrable). Each constraint name can be schema-qualified. The current schema search path is used to find the first matching name if no schema name is specified. `SET CONSTRAINTS ALL` changes the mode of all deferrable constraints.

When `SET CONSTRAINTS` changes the mode of a constraint from `DEFERRED` to `IMMEDIATE`, the new mode takes effect retroactively: any outstanding data modifications that would have been checked at the end of the transaction are instead checked during the execution of the `SET CONSTRAINTS` command. If any such constraint is violated, the `SET CONSTRAINTS` fails (and does not change the constraint mode). Thus, `SET CONSTRAINTS` can be used to force checking of constraints to occur at a specific point in a transaction.

Currently, only `UNIQUE`, `PRIMARY KEY`, `REFERENCES` (foreign key), and `EXCLUDE` constraints are affected by this setting. `NOT NULL` and `CHECK` constraints are always checked immediately when a row is inserted or modified (not at the end of the statement). Uniqueness and exclusion constraints that have not been declared `DEFERRABLE` are also checked immediately.

The firing of triggers that are declared as "constraint triggers" is also controlled by this setting — they fire at the same time that the associated constraint should be checked.

## Notes

Because PostgreSQL does not require constraint names to be unique within a schema (but only per-table), it is possible that there is more than one match for a specified constraint name. In this case `SET CONSTRAINTS` will act on all matches. For a non-schema-qualified name, once a match or matches have been found in some schema in the search path, schemas appearing later in the path are not searched.

This command only alters the behavior of constraints within the current transaction. Thus, if you execute this command outside of a transaction block (`BEGIN`/`COMMIT` pair), it will not appear to have any effect.

## Compatibility

This command complies with the behavior defined in the SQL standard, except for the limitation that, in PostgreSQL, it does not apply to `NOT NULL` and `CHECK` constraints. Also, PostgreSQL checks non-deferrable uniqueness constraints immediately, not at end of statement as the standard would suggest.

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