SESSION TIME ZONE

The SESSION TIME ZONE special register specifies a value that identifies the time zone of the application process.

The data type is VARCHAR(128).

The time zone value is in the format of ±th:tm. th represents the time zone hour offset. tm represents the time zone minute offset. Valid values for th are between -12 and +14. Valid values for tm are between 0 and 59. SESSION TIMEZONE can be specified as an alternative to SESSION TIME ZONE.

The initial value of the special register in a user-defined function or stored procedure is inherited according to the rules in Special registers in a user-defined function or a stored procedure. In other contexts the initial value of the special register represents the same time zone as the CURRENT TIME ZONE special register.

The value of the special register can be changed by executing the SET SESSION TIME ZONE statement. After a SET SESSION TIME ZONE statement has been processed, the values of the SESSION TIME ZONE and CURRENT TIME ZONE special register might not reflect the same value.

Example: Set the session time zone to '-8:00':

  SET SESSION TIME ZONE = '-8:00';