MySQL Reference Manual :: 1.7.3 Running MySQL in ANSI Mode

You can tell mysqld to use the ANSI mode with the --ansi startup option. See Section 5.3.1, “mysqld Command-Line Options”.

Running the server in ANSI mode is the same as starting it with these options (specify the --sql_mode value on a single line):

--transaction-isolation=SERIALIZABLE
--sql-mode=REAL_AS_FLOAT,PIPES_AS_CONCAT,ANSI_QUOTES,
IGNORE_SPACE

In MySQL 4.1, you can achieve the same effect with these two statements (specify the sql_mode value on a single line):

SET GLOBAL TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL SERIALIZABLE;
SET GLOBAL sql_mode = 'REAL_AS_FLOAT,PIPES_AS_CONCAT,ANSI_QUOTES,
IGNORE_SPACE';

See Section 1.7.2, “Selecting SQL Modes”.

In MySQL 4.1.1, the sql_mode options shown can be also be set with this statement:

SET GLOBAL sql_mode='ansi';

In this case, the value of the sql_mode variable is set to all options that are relevant for ANSI mode. You can check the result like this:

mysql> SET GLOBAL sql_mode='ansi';
mysql> SELECT @@global.sql_mode;
        -> 'REAL_AS_FLOAT,PIPES_AS_CONCAT,ANSI_QUOTES,
            IGNORE_SPACE,ANSI';