ALTER_PROCEDURE(7pg15)

📦 version 15.19, in opensuse-leap 16.0

✨ NAME ✨

ALTER_PROCEDURE — change the definition of a procedure 💅

hey bestie, welcome to ALTER PROCEDURE(7) from the PostgreSQL 15.19 Documentation 🫶 this is the glow-up command for procedures, and yes, we're getting into every single detail ✨

🌸 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

       where action is one of:

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

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so ALTER PROCEDURE changes the definition of a procedure. that's the whole main-character job 💖

But bestie, there are ownership rules, and they are not optional:

  • You must own the procedure to use ALTER PROCEDURE.
  • To change a procedure's schema, you must also have CREATE privilege on the new schema.
  • 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 procedure's schema.
  • These restrictions enforce that altering the owner doesn't do anything you couldn't do by dropping and recreating the procedure.
  • However, a superuser can alter ownership of any procedure anyway. yes, superuser stays icon behavior 👑

💖 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 duplicates, bestie 🙈
  • argmode — the mode of an argument: IN, OUT, INOUT, or VARIADIC. If omitted, the default is IN.
  • argname — the name of an argument. Note that 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. so the arg names are lowkey just vibing ✨
  • 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).
  • new_name — the new name of the procedure. rebranding era 🎀
  • new_owner — the new owner of the procedure. Note that if the procedure is marked SECURITY DEFINER, it will subsequently execute as the new owner. important detail, don't skip it 🫶
  • new_schema — the new schema for the procedure.
  • 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. A procedure can depend upon multiple extensions, and will be dropped when any one of those extensions is dropped. okay so extension-linked procedures have main character exit energy 💀
  • [ 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.
  • 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. literally just there for the standard's vibe check 🧚

🌈 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. periodt 💅

🌟 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 PostgreSQL said "we can be flexible" and honestly? iconic 🔥

🎀 SEE ALSO 🎀

That's the whole vibe check, bestie! This page is from PostgreSQL 15.19, dated 2026, and its manual name is ALTER PROCEDURE(7) 💖🫶✨

📦 where this page comes from