start_transaction(5)

NAME

       START TRANSACTION - start a transaction block

SYNOPSIS

       START TRANSACTION [ transaction_mode [, ...] ]

       where transaction_mode is one of:

           ISOLATION LEVEL { SERIALIZABLE | REPEATABLE READ | READ COMMITTED | READ UNCOMMITTED }
           READ WRITE | READ ONLY

DESCRIPTION

       This  command begins a new transaction block. If the isolation level or
       read/write mode is specified, the new transaction has those  character-
       istics,  as  if SET TRANSACTION [set_transaction(5)] was executed. This
       is the same as the BEGIN [begin(5)] command.

PARAMETERS

       Refer to SET TRANSACTION [set_transaction(5)] for  information  on  the
       meaning of the parameters to this statement.

COMPATIBILITY

       In  the  standard,  it  is  not necessary to issue START TRANSACTION to
       start a transaction block: any SQL command implicitly begins  a  block.
       PostgreSQL's  behavior can be seen as implicitly issuing a COMMIT after
       each command that does not follow START TRANSACTION (or BEGIN), and  it
       is  therefore  often  called ``autocommit''.  Other relational database
       systems may offer an autocommit feature as a convenience.

       The SQL standard requires commas between successive  transaction_modes,
       but for historical reasons PostgreSQL allows the commas to be omitted.

       See  also  the  compatibility  section of SET TRANSACTION [set_transac-
       tion(5)].

SEE ALSO

       BEGIN [begin(5)], COMMIT [commit(l)], ROLLBACK [rollback(l)], SAVEPOINT
       [savepoint(l)], SET TRANSACTION [set_transaction(l)]

SQL - Language Statements         2008-06-08               START TRANSACTION()