2 .\" Title: START TRANSACTION
3 .\" Author: The PostgreSQL Global Development Group
4 .\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets vsnapshot <http://docbook.sf.net/>
6 .\" Manual: PostgreSQL 18.0 Documentation
7 .\" Source: PostgreSQL 18.0
10 .TH "START TRANSACTION" "7" "2025" "PostgreSQL 18.0" "PostgreSQL 18.0 Documentation"
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31 START_TRANSACTION \- start a transaction block
35 START TRANSACTION [ \fItransaction_mode\fR [, \&.\&.\&.] ]
37 where \fItransaction_mode\fR is one of:
39 ISOLATION LEVEL { SERIALIZABLE | REPEATABLE READ | READ COMMITTED | READ UNCOMMITTED }
40 READ WRITE | READ ONLY
45 This command begins a new transaction block\&. If the isolation level, read/write mode, or deferrable mode is specified, the new transaction has those characteristics, as if
47 was executed\&. This is the same as the
53 SET TRANSACTION (\fBSET_TRANSACTION\fR(7))
54 for information on the meaning of the parameters to this statement\&.
57 In the standard, it is not necessary to issue
58 \fBSTART TRANSACTION\fR
59 to start a transaction block: any SQL command implicitly begins a block\&.
60 PostgreSQL\*(Aqs behavior can be seen as implicitly issuing a
62 after each command that does not follow
63 \fBSTART TRANSACTION\fR
65 \fBBEGIN\fR), and it is therefore often called
66 \(lqautocommit\(rq\&. Other relational database systems might offer an autocommit feature as a convenience\&.
70 \fItransaction_mode\fR
75 The SQL standard requires commas between successive
76 \fItransaction_modes\fR, but for historical reasons
78 allows the commas to be omitted\&.
80 See also the compatibility section of
81 SET TRANSACTION (\fBSET_TRANSACTION\fR(7))\&.
83 \fBBEGIN\fR(7), \fBCOMMIT\fR(7), \fBROLLBACK\fR(7), \fBSAVEPOINT\fR(7), SET TRANSACTION (\fBSET_TRANSACTION\fR(7))