ALTER_EXTENSION(7pg13)

💅 NAME 💅

Ok bestie, this is the ALTER EXTENSION(7) page from the PostgreSQL 13.23 Documentation — manual name folded in near the top like a lil name tag 🫶. And it does exactly what it says: ALTER_EXTENSION — change the definition of an extension. Periodt. ✨

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

       ALTER EXTENSION name UPDATE [ TO new_version ]
       ALTER EXTENSION name SET SCHEMA new_schema
       ALTER EXTENSION name ADD member_object
       ALTER EXTENSION name DROP member_object

       where member_object is:

         ACCESS METHOD object_name |
         AGGREGATE aggregate_name ( aggregate_signature ) |
         CAST (source_type AS target_type) |
         COLLATION object_name |
         CONVERSION object_name |
         DOMAIN object_name |
         EVENT TRIGGER object_name |
         FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER object_name |
         FOREIGN TABLE object_name |
         FUNCTION function_name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ] |
         MATERIALIZED VIEW object_name |
         OPERATOR operator_name (left_type, right_type) |
         OPERATOR CLASS object_name USING index_method |
         OPERATOR FAMILY object_name USING index_method |
         [ PROCEDURAL ] LANGUAGE object_name |
         PROCEDURE procedure_name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ] |
         ROUTINE routine_name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ] |
         SCHEMA object_name |
         SEQUENCE object_name |
         SERVER object_name |
         TABLE object_name |
         TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION object_name |
         TEXT SEARCH DICTIONARY object_name |
         TEXT SEARCH PARSER object_name |
         TEXT SEARCH TEMPLATE object_name |
         TRANSFORM FOR type_name LANGUAGE lang_name |
         TYPE object_name |
         VIEW object_name

       and aggregate_signature is:

       * |
       [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [ , ... ] |
       [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [ , ... ] ] ORDER BY [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [ , ... ]

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

ALTER EXTENSION changes the definition of an installed extension. There are several subforms, and yes bestie, we are going through every single one 💖:

• UPDATE — This form updates the extension to a newer version. The extension must supply a suitable update script (or series of scripts) that can modify the currently-installed version into the requested version. 📜
• SET SCHEMA — This form moves the extension's objects into another schema. The extension has to be relocatable for this command to succeed. 🚚
• ADD member_object — This form adds an existing object to the extension. This is mainly useful in extension update scripts. The object will subsequently be treated as a member of the extension; notably, it can only be dropped by dropping the extension. 🔥
• DROP member_object — This form removes a member object from the extension. This is mainly useful in extension update scripts. The object is not dropped, only disassociated from the extension. 🫶

See Section 37.17 for more information about these operations.

You must own the extension to use ALTER EXTENSION. The ADD/DROP forms require ownership of the added/dropped object as well. 👑

🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

• name — The name of an installed extension. 💅
• new_version — The desired new version of the extension. This can be written as either an identifier or a string literal. If not specified, ALTER EXTENSION UPDATE attempts to update to whatever is shown as the default version in the extension's control file. ⭐
• new_schema — The new schema for the extension. 🌈
• object_name, aggregate_name, function_name, operator_name, procedure_name, routine_name — The name of an object to be added to or removed from the extension. Names of tables, aggregates, domains, foreign tables, functions, operators, operator classes, operator families, procedures, routines, sequences, text search objects, types, and views can be schema-qualified. 🦋
• source_type — The name of the source data type of the cast. 🍓
• target_type — The name of the target data type of the cast. 🍓
• argmode — The mode of a function, procedure, or aggregate argument: IN, OUT, INOUT, or VARIADIC. If omitted, the default is IN. Note that ALTER EXTENSION does not actually pay any attention to OUT arguments, since only the input arguments are needed to determine the function's identity. So it is sufficient to list the IN, INOUT, and VARIADIC arguments. 🧚
• argname — The name of a function, procedure, or aggregate argument. Note that ALTER EXTENSION does not actually pay any attention to argument names, since only the argument data types are needed to determine the function's identity. 🙈
• argtype — The data type of a function, procedure, or aggregate argument. 💜
• left_type, right_type — The data type(s) of the operator's arguments (optionally schema-qualified). Write NONE for the missing argument of a prefix or postfix operator. 💀
• PROCEDURAL — This is a noise word. Literally just noise, no cap. 🎀
• type_name — The name of the data type of the transform. ✨
• lang_name — The name of the language of the transform. ✨

🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

To update the hstore extension to version 2.0:

ALTER EXTENSION hstore UPDATE TO '2.0';

To change the schema of the hstore extension to utils:

ALTER EXTENSION hstore SET SCHEMA utils;

To add an existing function to the hstore extension:

ALTER EXTENSION hstore ADD FUNCTION populate_record(anyelement, hstore);

👑 COMPATIBILITY 👑

ALTER EXTENSION is a PostgreSQL extension. That's the whole compatibility note, bestie. 🫶

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

CREATE EXTENSION (CREATE_EXTENSION(7)), DROP EXTENSION (DROP_EXTENSION(7)) — go read those too, iykyk 💜

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This page is from the PostgreSQL 13.23 Documentation, dated 2025 — now go alter those extensions, bestie, and slay responsibly 💖✨🦋