MySQL Reference Manual :: 1.7.2 Selecting SQL Modes

The MySQL server can operate in different SQL modes, and can apply these modes differentially for different clients. This allows an application to tailor server operation to its own requirements.

Modes define what SQL syntax MySQL should support and what kind of validation checks it should perform on the data. This makes it easier to use MySQL in a lot of different environments and to use MySQL together with other database servers.

You can set the default SQL mode by starting mysqld with the --sql-mode="modes" option. Beginning with MySQL 4.1, you can also change the mode after startup time by setting the sql_mode variable with a SET [SESSION|GLOBAL] sql_mode='modes' statement.

For more information on setting the server mode, see Section 5.3.2, “The Server SQL Mode”.