ALTER_POLICY(7pg15)

💅 ALTER POLICY 💅

okay so bestie, welcome to the ALTER POLICY page from the PostgreSQL 15.19 Documentation — yes that's the manual we're in, ALTER POLICY(7), and no we are not skipping anything, we're gonna read it together 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

ALTER POLICY — change the definition of a row-level security policy. that's it, that's the vibe. you're editing a policy that already exists, not making a new one 👑

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

ALTER POLICY name ON table_name RENAME TO new_name

ALTER POLICY name ON table_name
    [ TO { role_name | PUBLIC | CURRENT_ROLE | CURRENT_USER | SESSION_USER } [, ...] ]
    [ USING ( using_expression ) ]
    [ WITH CHECK ( check_expression ) ]

two forms, both iconic, pick your fighter 🎀

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so ALTER POLICY changes the definition of an existing row-level security policy. but listen — it's lowkey restrictive: ALTER POLICY only lets you modify the set of roles the policy applies to, plus the USING and WITH CHECK expressions. that's the whole menu, bestie 😭

want to change literally anything else about a policy — like which command it applies to, or whether it's permissive or restrictive? then you gotta DROP it and recreate it. no shortcuts, no glow-ups, periodt 💀

to use ALTER POLICY, you must own the table that the policy applies to. own the table, get the keys 👑

now, in the second form of ALTER POLICY, the role list, using_expression, and check_expression are replaced independently if specified. and when one of those clauses is omitted? the corresponding part of the policy stays exactly as it was. untouched. unbothered. main character energy 🌈

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🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

• name — the name of an existing policy you wanna alter. it's gotta exist already, we're not manifesting here ✨
• table_name — the name (optionally schema-qualified) of the table that the policy is on. schema-qualified if you're feeling fancy 💅
• new_name — the new name for the policy. rebrand, slay 🦋
• role_name — the role(s) to which the policy applies. you can specify multiple roles at one time, love a group chat. and to apply the policy to all roles, use PUBLIC 💖
• using_expression — the USING expression for the policy. see CREATE POLICY (CREATE_POLICY(7)) for the deets 👀
• check_expression — the WITH CHECK expression for the policy. also see CREATE POLICY (CREATE_POLICY(7)) for the deets 👀

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🧚 COMPATIBILITY 🧚

ALTER POLICY is a PostgreSQL extension. it's giving homegrown, it's giving original, no cap 🌸

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⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

• CREATE POLICY (CREATE_POLICY(7))
• DROP POLICY (DROP_POLICY(7))

read those too, bestie, they're the whole friend group 🔥

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fr fr though — if you're here to change anything besides roles, USING, or WITH CHECK, go read DROP POLICY / CREATE POLICY first, because ALTER POLICY will not do it for you 🙈

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k that's the whole page, you ate that 🍓 mwah 💜 — signed, sealed, delivered straight from PostgreSQL 15.19, dated 2026, ALTER POLICY(7) forever 👑