ALTER_PROCEDURE(7pg14)

✨ ALTER PROCEDURE ✨

bestie, welcome to the glow-up page for your stored procedures 💅 this is the PostgreSQL 14.24 manual we're vibing with today, and honestly? it's giving "makeover montage" energy 🎀

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🌸 NAME 🌸

ALTER PROCEDURE — change the definition of a procedure ✨ like a little procedure makeover, no big deal

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

ALTER PROCEDURE name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ]
    action [ ... ] [ RESTRICT ]
ALTER PROCEDURE name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ]
    RENAME TO new_name
ALTER PROCEDURE name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ]
    OWNER TO { new_owner | CURRENT_ROLE | CURRENT_USER | SESSION_USER }
ALTER PROCEDURE name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ]
    SET SCHEMA new_schema
ALTER PROCEDURE name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ]
    [ NO ] DEPENDS ON EXTENSION extension_name

and like, action is one of these cuties:

[ EXTERNAL ] SECURITY INVOKER | [ EXTERNAL ] SECURITY DEFINER
SET configuration_parameter { TO | = } { value | DEFAULT }
SET configuration_parameter FROM CURRENT
RESET configuration_parameter
RESET ALL

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

okay so ALTER PROCEDURE changes the definition of a procedure. that's the whole vibe. simple. iconic. 🫶

you must own the procedure to use ALTER PROCEDURE. not optional, not negotiable — it's giving "my procedure, my rules" 💅 to change a procedure's schema, you also need CREATE privilege on the new schema. and to alter the owner? you have to be a direct or indirect member of the new owning role, and that role has to have CREATE privilege on the procedure's schema. (these restrictions are literally there to enforce that altering the owner doesn't do anything you couldn't do by dropping and recreating the procedure. but plot twist: a superuser can alter ownership of any procedure anyway 👑)

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🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

• name — the name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing procedure. if no argument list is specified, the name must be unique in its schema. no cap.
• argmode — the mode of an argument: IN, OUT, INOUT, or VARIADIC. if you omit it, the default is IN ✨
• argname — the name of an argument. but ngl, ALTER PROCEDURE does not actually pay any attention to argument names, since only the argument data types are used to determine the procedure's identity 🙈 like, names are cute but they don't count here.
• argtype — the data type(s) of the procedure's arguments (optionally schema-qualified), if any. see DROP PROCEDURE (DROP_PROCEDURE(7)) for the details of how the procedure is looked up using the argument data type(s). iykyk.
• new_name — the new name of the procedure. fresh name, fresh me ✨
• new_owner — the new owner of the procedure. heads up bestie: if the procedure is marked SECURITY DEFINER, it will subsequently execute as the new owner 👀
• new_schema — the new schema for the procedure. moving vibes.
• extension_name — this form marks the procedure as dependent on the extension, or no longer dependent on the extension if NO is specified. a procedure that's marked as dependent on an extension is dropped when the extension is dropped, even if cascade is not specified. and a procedure can depend upon multiple extensions, and will be dropped when any one of those extensions is dropped. so like, pick your friends carefully 🍓
• [ EXTERNAL ] SECURITY INVOKER / [ EXTERNAL ] SECURITY DEFINER — change whether the procedure is a security definer or not. the key word EXTERNAL is ignored for SQL conformance. see CREATE PROCEDURE (CREATE_PROCEDURE(7)) for more information about this capability. slay.
• configuration_parameter, value — add or change the assignment to be made to a configuration parameter when the procedure is called. if value is DEFAULT or, equivalently, RESET is used, the procedure-local setting is removed, so that the procedure executes with the value present in its environment. use RESET ALL to clear all procedure-local settings. SET FROM CURRENT saves the value of the parameter that is current when ALTER PROCEDURE is executed as the value to be applied when the procedure is entered ✨

see SET(7) and Chapter 20 for more information about allowed parameter names and values 💖

• RESTRICT — ignored for conformance with the SQL standard. it's just there for vibes, honestly.

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🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

to rename the procedure insert_data with two arguments of type integer to insert_record:

ALTER PROCEDURE insert_data(integer, integer) RENAME TO insert_record;

to change the owner of the procedure insert_data with two arguments of type integer to joe:

ALTER PROCEDURE insert_data(integer, integer) OWNER TO joe;

to change the schema of the procedure insert_data with two arguments of type integer to accounting:

ALTER PROCEDURE insert_data(integer, integer) SET SCHEMA accounting;

to mark the procedure insert_data(integer, integer) as being dependent on the extension myext:

ALTER PROCEDURE insert_data(integer, integer) DEPENDS ON EXTENSION myext;

to adjust the search path that is automatically set for a procedure:

ALTER PROCEDURE check_password(text) SET search_path = admin, pg_temp;

to disable automatic setting of search_path for a procedure:

ALTER PROCEDURE check_password(text) RESET search_path;

the procedure will now execute with whatever search path is used by its caller 👑

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🔥 COMPATIBILITY 🔥

this statement is partially compatible with the ALTER PROCEDURE statement in the SQL standard. the standard allows more properties of a procedure to be modified, but does not provide the ability to rename a procedure, make a procedure a security definer, attach configuration parameter values to a procedure, or change the owner, schema, or volatility of a procedure. the standard also requires the RESTRICT key word, which is optional in PostgreSQL. so like, standard who? we don't know her 💅

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💜 SEE ALSO 💜

• CREATE PROCEDURE (CREATE_PROCEDURE(7))
• DROP PROCEDURE (DROP_PROCEDURE(7))
• ALTER FUNCTION (ALTER_FUNCTION(7))
• ALTER ROUTINE (ALTER_ROUTINE(7))

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and that's the whole page, bestie 🦋 you ate, you slayed, you now know how to alter a procedure like a main character. this was PostgreSQL 14.24, dated 2026, and i'm literally obsessed with you for reading the whole thing 💖 periodt ✨