Is it possible to show only value in MySQL "show variables"?

Question

It is an easy task to find MySQL variable values:

mysql> show variables where Variable_name = 'version';
+---------------+--------------------+
| Variable_name | Value              |
+---------------+--------------------+
| version       | 5.0.19-Max         |
+---------------+--------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

But is there any syntax that allows to select only column with variable value, like so:

mysql> command_i_want_to_know
+--------------------+
| Value              |
+--------------------+
| 5.0.19-Max         |
+--------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Answer 1

One more variant -

SELECT @@version;

Answer 2

select variable_value 
from information_schema.global_variables
where variable_name = 'version';