DragonFly On-Line Manual Pages

ALTER TABLE(7) SQL Commands ALTER TABLE(7)

NAME
ALTER TABLE - change the definition of a table

SYNOPSIS
ALTER TABLE [ ONLY ] name [ * ]
action [, ... ]
ALTER TABLE [ ONLY ] name [ * ]
RENAME [ COLUMN ] column TO new_column
ALTER TABLE name
RENAME TO new_name
ALTER TABLE name
SET SCHEMA new_schema

where action is one of:

ADD [ COLUMN ] column type [ column_constraint [ ... ] ]
DROP [ COLUMN ] column [ RESTRICT | CASCADE ]
ALTER [ COLUMN ] column [ SET DATA ] TYPE type [ USING expression ]
ALTER [ COLUMN ] column SET DEFAULT expression
ALTER [ COLUMN ] column DROP DEFAULT
ALTER [ COLUMN ] column { SET | DROP } NOT NULL
ALTER [ COLUMN ] column SET STATISTICS integer
ALTER [ COLUMN ] column SET STORAGE { PLAIN | EXTERNAL | EXTENDED | MAIN }
ADD table_constraint
DROP CONSTRAINT constraint_name [ RESTRICT | CASCADE ]
DISABLE TRIGGER [ trigger_name | ALL | USER ]
ENABLE TRIGGER [ trigger_name | ALL | USER ]
ENABLE REPLICA TRIGGER trigger_name
ENABLE ALWAYS TRIGGER trigger_name
DISABLE RULE rewrite_rule_name
ENABLE RULE rewrite_rule_name
ENABLE REPLICA RULE rewrite_rule_name
ENABLE ALWAYS RULE rewrite_rule_name
CLUSTER ON index_name
SET WITHOUT CLUSTER
SET WITH OIDS
SET WITHOUT OIDS
SET ( storage_parameter = value [, ... ] )
RESET ( storage_parameter [, ... ] )
INHERIT parent_table
NO INHERIT parent_table
OWNER TO new_owner
SET TABLESPACE new_tablespace

DESCRIPTION
ALTER TABLE changes the definition of an existing table. There are
several subforms:

ADD COLUMN
This form adds a new column to the table, using the same syntax
as CREATE TABLE [create_table(7)].

DROP COLUMN
This form drops a column from a table. Indexes and table
constraints involving the column will be automatically dropped
as well. You will need to say CASCADE if anything outside the
table depends on the column, for example, foreign key references
or views.

SET DATA TYPE
This form changes the type of a column of a table. Indexes and
simple table constraints involving the column will be
automatically converted to use the new column type by reparsing
the originally supplied expression. The optional USING clause
specifies how to compute the new column value from the old; if
omitted, the default conversion is the same as an assignment
cast from old data type to new. A USING clause must be provided
if there is no implicit or assignment cast from old to new type.

SET/DROP DEFAULT
These forms set or remove the default value for a column. The
default values only apply to subsequent INSERT commands; they do
not cause rows already in the table to change. Defaults can
also be created for views, in which case they are inserted into
INSERT statements on the view before the view's ON INSERT rule
is applied.

SET/DROP NOT NULL
These forms change whether a column is marked to allow null
values or to reject null values. You can only use SET NOT NULL
when the column contains no null values.

SET STATISTICS
This form sets the per-column statistics-gathering target for
subsequent ANALYZE [analyze(7)] operations. The target can be
set in the range 0 to 10000; alternatively, set it to -1 to
revert to using the system default statistics target
(default_statistics_target). For more information on the use of
statistics by the PostgreSQL query planner, refer to in the
documentation.

SET STORAGE
This form sets the storage mode for a column. This controls
whether this column is held inline or in a secondary TOAST
table, and whether the data should be compressed or not. PLAIN
must be used for fixed-length values such as integer and is
inline, uncompressed. MAIN is for inline, compressible data.
EXTERNAL is for external, uncompressed data, and EXTENDED is for
external, compressed data. EXTENDED is the default for most data
types that support non-PLAIN storage. Use of EXTERNAL will make
substring operations on very large text and bytea values run
faster, at the penalty of increased storage space. Note that SET
STORAGE doesn't itself change anything in the table, it just
sets the strategy to be pursued during future table updates.
See in the documentation for more information.

ADD table_constraint
This form adds a new constraint to a table using the same syntax
as CREATE TABLE [create_table(7)].

DROP CONSTRAINT
This form drops the specified constraint on a table.

DISABLE/ENABLE [ REPLICA | ALWAYS ] TRIGGER
These forms configure the firing of trigger(s) belonging to the
table. A disabled trigger is still known to the system, but is
not executed when its triggering event occurs. For a deferred
trigger, the enable status is checked when the event occurs, not
when the trigger function is actually executed. One can disable
or enable a single trigger specified by name, or all triggers on
the table, or only user triggers (this option excludes triggers
that are used to implement foreign key constraints). Disabling
or enabling constraint triggers requires superuser privileges;
it should be done with caution since of course the integrity of
the constraint cannot be guaranteed if the triggers are not
executed. The trigger firing mechanism is also affected by the
configuration variable session_replication_role. Simply enabled
triggers will fire when the replication role is ``origin'' (the
default) or ``local''. Triggers configured as ENABLE REPLICA
will only fire if the session is in ``replica'' mode, and
triggers configured as ENABLE ALWAYS will fire regardless of the
current replication mode.

DISABLE/ENABLE [ REPLICA | ALWAYS ] RULE
These forms configure the firing of rewrite rules belonging to
the table. A disabled rule is still known to the system, but is
not applied during query rewriting. The semantics are as for
disabled/enabled triggers. This configuration is ignored for ON
SELECT rules, which are always applied in order to keep views
working even if the current session is in a non-default
replication role.

CLUSTER
This form selects the default index for future CLUSTER
[cluster(7)] operations. It does not actually re-cluster the
table.

SET WITHOUT CLUSTER
This form removes the most recently used CLUSTER [cluster(7)]
index specification from the table. This affects future cluster
operations that don't specify an index.

SET WITH OIDS
This form adds an oid system column to the table (see in the
documentation). It does nothing if the table already has OIDs.

Note that this is not equivalent to ADD COLUMN oid oid; that
would add a normal column that happened to be named oid, not a
system column.

SET WITHOUT OIDS
This form removes the oid system column from the table. This is
exactly equivalent to DROP COLUMN oid RESTRICT, except that it
will not complain if there is already no oid column.

SET ( storage_parameter = value [, ... ] )
This form changes one or more storage parameters for the table.
See Storage Parameters [create_table(7)] for details on the
available parameters. Note that the table contents will not be
modified immediately by this command; depending on the parameter
you might need to rewrite the table to get the desired effects.
That can be done with CLUSTER [cluster(7)] or one of the forms
of ALTER TABLE that forces a table rewrite.

Note: While CREATE TABLE allows OIDS to be specified in the WITH
(storage_parameter) syntax, ALTER TABLE does not treat OIDS as a
storage parameter. Instead use the SET WITH OIDS and SET WITHOUT
OIDS forms to change OID status.

RESET ( storage_parameter [, ... ] )
This form resets one or more storage parameters to their
defaults. As with SET, a table rewrite might be needed to update
the table entirely.

INHERIT parent_table
This form adds the target table as a new child of the specified
parent table. Subsequently, queries against the parent will
include records of the target table. To be added as a child, the
target table must already contain all the same columns as the
parent (it could have additional columns, too). The columns must
have matching data types, and if they have NOT NULL constraints
in the parent then they must also have NOT NULL constraints in
the child.

There must also be matching child-table constraints for all
CHECK constraints of the parent. Currently UNIQUE, PRIMARY KEY,
and FOREIGN KEY constraints are not considered, but this might
change in the future.

NO INHERIT parent_table
This form removes the target table from the list of children of
the specified parent table. Queries against the parent table
will no longer include records drawn from the target table.

OWNER This form changes the owner of the table, sequence, or view to
the specified user.

SET TABLESPACE
This form changes the table's tablespace to the specified
tablespace and moves the data file(s) associated with the table
to the new tablespace. Indexes on the table, if any, are not
moved; but they can be moved separately with additional SET
TABLESPACE commands. See also CREATE TABLESPACE
[create_tablespace(7)].

RENAME The RENAME forms change the name of a table (or an index,
sequence, or view) or the name of an individual column in a
table. There is no effect on the stored data.

SET SCHEMA
This form moves the table into another schema. Associated
indexes, constraints, and sequences owned by table columns are
moved as well.

All the actions except RENAME and SET SCHEMA can be combined into a
list of multiple alterations to apply in parallel. For example, it is
possible to add several columns and/or alter the type of several
columns in a single command. This is particularly useful with large
tables, since only one pass over the table need be made.

You must own the table to use ALTER TABLE. To change the schema of a
table, you must also have CREATE privilege on the new schema. To add
the table as a new child of a parent table, you must own the parent
table as well. To alter the owner, you must also be a direct or
indirect member of the new owning role, and that role must have CREATE
privilege on the table's schema. (These restrictions enforce that
altering the owner doesn't do anything you couldn't do by dropping and
recreating the table. However, a superuser can alter ownership of any
table anyway.)

PARAMETERS
name The name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing table to
alter. If ONLY is specified before the table name, only that
table is altered. If ONLY is not specified, the table and all
its descendant tables (if any) are altered. Optionally, * can be
specified after the table name to explicitly indicate that
descendant tables are included.

column Name of a new or existing column.

new_column
New name for an existing column.

new_name
New name for the table.

type Data type of the new column, or new data type for an existing
column.

table_constraint
New table constraint for the table.

constraint_name
Name of an existing constraint to drop.

CASCADE
Automatically drop objects that depend on the dropped column or
constraint (for example, views referencing the column).

RESTRICT
Refuse to drop the column or constraint if there are any
dependent objects. This is the default behavior.

trigger_name
Name of a single trigger to disable or enable.

ALL Disable or enable all triggers belonging to the table. (This
requires superuser privilege if any of the triggers are for
foreign key constraints.)

USER Disable or enable all triggers belonging to the table except for
foreign key constraint triggers.

index_name
The index name on which the table should be marked for
clustering.

storage_parameter
The name of a table storage parameter.

value The new value for a table storage parameter. This might be a
number or a word depending on the parameter.

parent_table
A parent table to associate or de-associate with this table.

new_owner
The user name of the new owner of the table.

new_tablespace
The name of the tablespace to which the table will be moved.

new_schema
The name of the schema to which the table will be moved.

NOTES
The key word COLUMN is noise and can be omitted.

When a column is added with ADD COLUMN, all existing rows in the table
are initialized with the column's default value (NULL if no DEFAULT
clause is specified).

Adding a column with a non-null default or changing the type of an
existing column will require the entire table to be rewritten. This
might take a significant amount of time for a large table; and it will
temporarily require double the disk space. Adding or removing a system
oid column likewise requires rewriting the entire table.

Adding a CHECK or NOT NULL constraint requires scanning the table to
verify that existing rows meet the constraint.

The main reason for providing the option to specify multiple changes in
a single ALTER TABLE is that multiple table scans or rewrites can
thereby be combined into a single pass over the table.

The DROP COLUMN form does not physically remove the column, but simply
makes it invisible to SQL operations. Subsequent insert and update
operations in the table will store a null value for the column. Thus,
dropping a column is quick but it will not immediately reduce the on-
disk size of your table, as the space occupied by the dropped column is
not reclaimed. The space will be reclaimed over time as existing rows
are updated. (These statements do not apply when dropping the system
oid column; that is done with an immediate rewrite.)

The fact that ALTER TYPE requires rewriting the whole table is
sometimes an advantage, because the rewriting process eliminates any
dead space in the table. For example, to reclaim the space occupied by
a dropped column immediately, the fastest way is:

ALTER TABLE table ALTER COLUMN anycol TYPE anytype;

where anycol is any remaining table column and anytype is the same type
that column already has. This results in no semantically-visible
change in the table, but the command forces rewriting, which gets rid
of no-longer-useful data.

The USING option of ALTER TYPE can actually specify any expression
involving the old values of the row; that is, it can refer to other
columns as well as the one being converted. This allows very general
conversions to be done with the ALTER TYPE syntax. Because of this
flexibility, the USING expression is not applied to the column's
default value (if any); the result might not be a constant expression
as required for a default. This means that when there is no implicit
or assignment cast from old to new type, ALTER TYPE might fail to
convert the default even though a USING clause is supplied. In such
cases, drop the default with DROP DEFAULT, perform the ALTER TYPE, and
then use SET DEFAULT to add a suitable new default. Similar
considerations apply to indexes and constraints involving the column.

If a table has any descendant tables, it is not permitted to add,
rename, or change the type of a column in the parent table without
doing the same to the descendants. That is, ALTER TABLE ONLY will be
rejected. This ensures that the descendants always have columns
matching the parent.

A recursive DROP COLUMN operation will remove a descendant table's
column only if the descendant does not inherit that column from any
other parents and never had an independent definition of the column. A
nonrecursive DROP COLUMN (i.e., ALTER TABLE ONLY ... DROP COLUMN) never
removes any descendant columns, but instead marks them as independently
defined rather than inherited.

The TRIGGER, CLUSTER, OWNER, and TABLESPACE actions never recurse to
descendant tables; that is, they always act as though ONLY were
specified. Adding a constraint can recurse only for CHECK constraints,
and is required to do so for such constraints.

Changing any part of a system catalog table is not permitted.

Refer to CREATE TABLE [create_table(7)] for a further description of
valid parameters. in the documentation has further information on
inheritance.

EXAMPLES
To add a column of type varchar to a table:

ALTER TABLE distributors ADD COLUMN address varchar(30);

To drop a column from a table:

ALTER TABLE distributors DROP COLUMN address RESTRICT;

To change the types of two existing columns in one operation:

ALTER TABLE distributors
ALTER COLUMN address TYPE varchar(80),
ALTER COLUMN name TYPE varchar(100);

To change an integer column containing UNIX timestamps to timestamp
with time zone via a USING clause:

ALTER TABLE foo
ALTER COLUMN foo_timestamp SET DATA TYPE timestamp with time zone
USING
timestamp with time zone 'epoch' + foo_timestamp * interval '1 second';

The same, when the column has a default expression that won't
automatically cast to the new data type:

ALTER TABLE foo
ALTER COLUMN foo_timestamp DROP DEFAULT,
ALTER COLUMN foo_timestamp TYPE timestamp with time zone
USING
timestamp with time zone 'epoch' + foo_timestamp * interval '1 second',
ALTER COLUMN foo_timestamp SET DEFAULT now();

To rename an existing column:

ALTER TABLE distributors RENAME COLUMN address TO city;

To rename an existing table:

ALTER TABLE distributors RENAME TO suppliers;

To add a not-null constraint to a column:

ALTER TABLE distributors ALTER COLUMN street SET NOT NULL;

To remove a not-null constraint from a column:

ALTER TABLE distributors ALTER COLUMN street DROP NOT NULL;

To add a check constraint to a table and all its children:

ALTER TABLE distributors ADD CONSTRAINT zipchk CHECK (char_length(zipcode) = 5);

To remove a check constraint from a table and all its children:

ALTER TABLE distributors DROP CONSTRAINT zipchk;

To remove a check constraint from one table only:

ALTER TABLE ONLY distributors DROP CONSTRAINT zipchk;

(The check constraint remains in place for any child tables.)

To add a foreign key constraint to a table:

ALTER TABLE distributors ADD CONSTRAINT distfk FOREIGN KEY (address) REFERENCES addresses (address) MATCH FULL;

To add a (multicolumn) unique constraint to a table:

ALTER TABLE distributors ADD CONSTRAINT dist_id_zipcode_key UNIQUE (dist_id, zipcode);

To add an automatically named primary key constraint to a table, noting
that a table can only ever have one primary key:

ALTER TABLE distributors ADD PRIMARY KEY (dist_id);

To move a table to a different tablespace:

ALTER TABLE distributors SET TABLESPACE fasttablespace;

To move a table to a different schema:

ALTER TABLE myschema.distributors SET SCHEMA yourschema;

COMPATIBILITY
The forms ADD, DROP, SET DEFAULT, and SET DATA TYPE (without USING)
conform with the SQL standard. The other forms are PostgreSQL
extensions of the SQL standard. Also, the ability to specify more than
one manipulation in a single ALTER TABLE command is an extension.

ALTER TABLE DROP COLUMN can be used to drop the only column of a table,
leaving a zero-column table. This is an extension of SQL, which
disallows zero-column tables.

SQL - Language Statements 2014-07-21 ALTER TABLE(7)