ALTER_OPERATOR(7pg13)

✨ ALTER OPERATOR ✨

okay so real talk — this is the ALTER OPERATOR(7) page from the PostgreSQL 13.23 Documentation, and it's literally the glow-up page for operators. bestie, if you've ever made a custom operator and then realized it needs a whole different owner, schema, or selectivity vibe, this is your moment. no cap. 💅

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🎀 NAME 🎀

ALTER_OPERATOR — change the definition of an operator

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

ALTER OPERATOR name ( { left_type | NONE } , { right_type | NONE } )
    OWNER TO { new_owner | CURRENT_USER | SESSION_USER }

ALTER OPERATOR name ( { left_type | NONE } , { right_type | NONE } )
    SET SCHEMA new_schema

ALTER OPERATOR name ( { left_type | NONE } , { right_type | NONE } )
    SET ( {  RESTRICT = { res_proc | NONE }
           | JOIN = { join_proc | NONE }
         } [, ... ] )

like, three whole forms. pick your fighter. 🌈

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

ALTER OPERATOR changes the definition of an operator. that's the whole assignment, and it ate. ✨

You must own the operator to use ALTER OPERATOR. periodt.

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 operator's schema. 🫶 (these restrictions enforce that altering the owner doesn't do anything you couldn't do by dropping and recreating the operator — which, yeah, is exactly the kind of thing we're avoiding, thank you.) However, a superuser can alter ownership of any operator anyway. main character energy only. 👑

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💖 PARAMETERS 💖

• name — the name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing operator. iykyk, but schema-qualify it if you're being fancy.
• left_type — the data type of the operator's left operand; write NONE if the operator has no left operand. yes, NONE is a valid mood here. 🙈
• right_type — the data type of the operator's right operand; write NONE if the operator has no right operand. same energy. 💀
• new_owner — the new owner of the operator. crown handoff. 👑
• new_schema — the new schema for the operator. relocation era. 🦋
• res_proc — the restriction selectivity estimator function for this operator; write NONE to remove existing selectivity estimator. so if you're over it, just say NONE. 💅
• join_proc — the join selectivity estimator function for this operator; write NONE to remove existing selectivity estimator. same deal, bestie. 🎀

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🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

Change the owner of a custom operator a @@ b for type text:

ALTER OPERATOR @@ (text, text) OWNER TO joe;

Change the restriction and join selectivity estimator functions of a custom operator a && b for type int[]:

ALTER OPERATOR && (_int4, _int4) SET (RESTRICT = _int_contsel, JOIN = _int_contjoinsel);

look at that. iconic. not me being obsessed with _int4. 😭

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⭐ COMPATIBILITY ⭐

There is no ALTER OPERATOR statement in the SQL standard. we simply do not follow the rules. 💀✨

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• CREATE OPERATOR (CREATE_OPERATOR(7))
• DROP OPERATOR (DROP_OPERATOR(7))

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ngl, the ownership rules look dramatic, but they're there so you can't sneak around permissions by drop-and-recreate. respect the vibe check. 🧚

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and that's the page, bestie — brought to you by PostgreSQL 13.23, dated 2025, for ALTER OPERATOR(7). go forth and alter responsibly. 💜🎀