1ALTER TYPE(7)            PostgreSQL 13.3 Documentation           ALTER TYPE(7)
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NAME

6       ALTER_TYPE - change the definition of a type
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SYNOPSIS

9       ALTER TYPE name OWNER TO { new_owner | CURRENT_USER | SESSION_USER }
10       ALTER TYPE name RENAME TO new_name
11       ALTER TYPE name SET SCHEMA new_schema
12       ALTER TYPE name RENAME ATTRIBUTE attribute_name TO new_attribute_name [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]
13       ALTER TYPE name action [, ... ]
14       ALTER TYPE name ADD VALUE [ IF NOT EXISTS ] new_enum_value [ { BEFORE | AFTER } neighbor_enum_value ]
15       ALTER TYPE name RENAME VALUE existing_enum_value TO new_enum_value
16       ALTER TYPE name SET ( property = value [, ... ] )
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18       where action is one of:
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20           ADD ATTRIBUTE attribute_name data_type [ COLLATE collation ] [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]
21           DROP ATTRIBUTE [ IF EXISTS ] attribute_name [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]
22           ALTER ATTRIBUTE attribute_name [ SET DATA ] TYPE data_type [ COLLATE collation ] [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]
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DESCRIPTION

25       ALTER TYPE changes the definition of an existing type. There are
26       several subforms:
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28       OWNER
29           This form changes the owner of the type.
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31       RENAME
32           This form changes the name of the type.
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34       SET SCHEMA
35           This form moves the type into another schema.
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37       RENAME ATTRIBUTE
38           This form is only usable with composite types. It changes the name
39           of an individual attribute of the type.
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41       ADD ATTRIBUTE
42           This form adds a new attribute to a composite type, using the same
43           syntax as CREATE TYPE (CREATE_TYPE(7)).
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45       DROP ATTRIBUTE [ IF EXISTS ]
46           This form drops an attribute from a composite type. If IF EXISTS is
47           specified and the attribute does not exist, no error is thrown. In
48           this case a notice is issued instead.
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50       ALTER ATTRIBUTE ... SET DATA TYPE
51           This form changes the type of an attribute of a composite type.
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53       ADD VALUE [ IF NOT EXISTS ] [ BEFORE | AFTER ]
54           This form adds a new value to an enum type. The new value's place
55           in the enum's ordering can be specified as being BEFORE or AFTER
56           one of the existing values. Otherwise, the new item is added at the
57           end of the list of values.
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59           If IF NOT EXISTS is specified, it is not an error if the type
60           already contains the new value: a notice is issued but no other
61           action is taken. Otherwise, an error will occur if the new value is
62           already present.
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64       RENAME VALUE
65           This form renames a value of an enum type. The value's place in the
66           enum's ordering is not affected. An error will occur if the
67           specified value is not present or the new name is already present.
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69       SET ( property = value [, ... ] )
70           This form is only applicable to base types. It allows adjustment of
71           a subset of the base-type properties that can be set in CREATE
72           TYPE. Specifically, these properties can be changed:
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74           •   RECEIVE can be set to the name of a binary input function, or
75               NONE to remove the type's binary input function. Using this
76               option requires superuser privilege.
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78           •   SEND can be set to the name of a binary output function, or
79               NONE to remove the type's binary output function. Using this
80               option requires superuser privilege.
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82           •   TYPMOD_IN can be set to the name of a type modifier input
83               function, or NONE to remove the type's type modifier input
84               function. Using this option requires superuser privilege.
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86           •   TYPMOD_OUT can be set to the name of a type modifier output
87               function, or NONE to remove the type's type modifier output
88               function. Using this option requires superuser privilege.
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90           •   ANALYZE can be set to the name of a type-specific statistics
91               collection function, or NONE to remove the type's statistics
92               collection function. Using this option requires superuser
93               privilege.
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95           •   STORAGE can be set to plain, extended, external, or main (see
96               Section 68.2 for more information about what these mean).
97               However, changing from plain to another setting requires
98               superuser privilege (because it requires that the type's C
99               functions all be TOAST-ready), and changing to plain from
100               another setting is not allowed at all (since the type may
101               already have TOASTed values present in the database). Note that
102               changing this option doesn't by itself change any stored data,
103               it just sets the default TOAST strategy to be used for table
104               columns created in the future. See ALTER TABLE (ALTER_TABLE(7))
105               to change the TOAST strategy for existing table columns.
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107           See CREATE TYPE (CREATE_TYPE(7)) for more details about these type
108           properties. Note that where appropriate, a change in these
109           properties for a base type will be propagated automatically to
110           domains based on that type.
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112       The ADD ATTRIBUTE, DROP ATTRIBUTE, and ALTER ATTRIBUTE actions can be
113       combined into a list of multiple alterations to apply in parallel. For
114       example, it is possible to add several attributes and/or alter the type
115       of several attributes in a single command.
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117       You must own the type to use ALTER TYPE. To change the schema of a
118       type, you must also have CREATE privilege on the new schema. To alter
119       the owner, you must also be a direct or indirect member of the new
120       owning role, and that role must have CREATE privilege on the type's
121       schema. (These restrictions enforce that altering the owner doesn't do
122       anything you couldn't do by dropping and recreating the type. However,
123       a superuser can alter ownership of any type anyway.) To add an
124       attribute or alter an attribute type, you must also have USAGE
125       privilege on the attribute's data type.
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PARAMETERS

128       name
129           The name (possibly schema-qualified) of an existing type to alter.
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131       new_name
132           The new name for the type.
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134       new_owner
135           The user name of the new owner of the type.
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137       new_schema
138           The new schema for the type.
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140       attribute_name
141           The name of the attribute to add, alter, or drop.
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143       new_attribute_name
144           The new name of the attribute to be renamed.
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146       data_type
147           The data type of the attribute to add, or the new type of the
148           attribute to alter.
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150       new_enum_value
151           The new value to be added to an enum type's list of values, or the
152           new name to be given to an existing value. Like all enum literals,
153           it needs to be quoted.
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155       neighbor_enum_value
156           The existing enum value that the new value should be added
157           immediately before or after in the enum type's sort ordering. Like
158           all enum literals, it needs to be quoted.
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160       existing_enum_value
161           The existing enum value that should be renamed. Like all enum
162           literals, it needs to be quoted.
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164       property
165           The name of a base-type property to be modified; see above for
166           possible values.
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168       CASCADE
169           Automatically propagate the operation to typed tables of the type
170           being altered, and their descendants.
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172       RESTRICT
173           Refuse the operation if the type being altered is the type of a
174           typed table. This is the default.
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NOTES

177       If ALTER TYPE ... ADD VALUE (the form that adds a new value to an enum
178       type) is executed inside a transaction block, the new value cannot be
179       used until after the transaction has been committed.
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181       Comparisons involving an added enum value will sometimes be slower than
182       comparisons involving only original members of the enum type. This will
183       usually only occur if BEFORE or AFTER is used to set the new value's
184       sort position somewhere other than at the end of the list. However,
185       sometimes it will happen even though the new value is added at the end
186       (this occurs if the OID counter “wrapped around” since the original
187       creation of the enum type). The slowdown is usually insignificant; but
188       if it matters, optimal performance can be regained by dropping and
189       recreating the enum type, or by dumping and reloading the database.
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EXAMPLES

192       To rename a data type:
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194           ALTER TYPE electronic_mail RENAME TO email;
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196       To change the owner of the type email to joe:
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198           ALTER TYPE email OWNER TO joe;
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200       To change the schema of the type email to customers:
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202           ALTER TYPE email SET SCHEMA customers;
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204       To add a new attribute to a composite type:
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206           ALTER TYPE compfoo ADD ATTRIBUTE f3 int;
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208       To add a new value to an enum type in a particular sort position:
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210           ALTER TYPE colors ADD VALUE 'orange' AFTER 'red';
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212       To rename an enum value:
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214           ALTER TYPE colors RENAME VALUE 'purple' TO 'mauve';
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216       To create binary I/O functions for an existing base type:
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218           CREATE FUNCTION mytypesend(mytype) RETURNS bytea ...;
219           CREATE FUNCTION mytyperecv(internal, oid, integer) RETURNS mytype ...;
220           ALTER TYPE mytype SET (
221               SEND = mytypesend,
222               RECEIVE = mytyperecv
223           );
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COMPATIBILITY

226       The variants to add and drop attributes are part of the SQL standard;
227       the other variants are PostgreSQL extensions.
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SEE ALSO

230       CREATE TYPE (CREATE_TYPE(7)), DROP TYPE (DROP_TYPE(7))
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234PostgreSQL 13.3                      2021                        ALTER TYPE(7)
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