psql set default statement_timeout as a user in postgres

Question

I want to set a default statement_timeout for my access to a postgres database. After configuring my environment variables, I now have it where psql logs me on my preferred database and table. However, while I'm exploring several of tables in it, I'd like to have a statement timeout of around a minute. This can be done simply by typing SET statement_timeout TO '1min'; at the beginning of each session, but this is obnoxious to type every time. I don't have access to the server configuration nor would I want to change it. Ideally I could do something to the effect of alias psql='psql -c "SET statement_timeout TO '1min';"' except the-c` flag of psql doesn't allow interactive input. Are there any nice solutions to this problem, or am I always doomed to set the timeout manually for each interactive session?

Answer 1

You could use your .psqlrc file (if you don't have one in your home directory, create it; if you're on Windows instead of *nix, the file is %APPDATA%\postgresql\psqlrc.conf instead) and set the following command:

set statement_timeout to 60000; commit; 

That setting is in milliseconds, so that'll set the timeout to 1 minute. .psqlrc isn't used with -c nor -X invocations of psql, so that should allow you to get your interactive-mode timeout to 1 minute.

You can then execute the following in psql to verify that the configuration has taken effect:

show statement_timeout;