SHOW VARIABLES syntax

SHOW [{GLOBAL | SESSION}] VARIABLES [WHERE variable_name='xxx']

SHOW VARIABLES statement was added to improve compatibility with 3rd party MySQL connectors and frameworks that automatically execute this statement.

It returns the current values of a few server-wide variables. Also, support for GLOBAL and SESSION clauses was added.

mysql> SHOW GLOBAL VARIABLES;
+----------------------+----------+
| Variable_name        | Value    |
+----------------------+----------+
| autocommit           | 1        |
| collation_connection | libc_ci  |
| query_log_format     | sphinxql |
| log_level            | info     |
+----------------------+----------+
4 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Support for WHERE variable_name clause was added, to help certain connectors.