ALTER_SEQUENCE(7pg15)

💅 ALTER SEQUENCE 💅

okay bestie, so this is the ALTER SEQUENCE page from the PostgreSQL 15.19 Documentation, and it's genuinely so useful — it's all about how you change the definition of a sequence generator. no cap, sequences are lowkey the main character of auto-incrementing IDs, and this page is their glow-up manual. let's get into it 🫶

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

ALTER SEQUENCE [ IF EXISTS ] name
    [ AS data_type ]
    [ INCREMENT [ BY ] increment ]
    [ MINVALUE minvalue | NO MINVALUE ] [ MAXVALUE maxvalue | NO MAXVALUE ]
    [ START [ WITH ] start ]
    [ RESTART [ [ WITH ] restart ] ]
    [ CACHE cache ] [ [ NO ] CYCLE ]
    [ OWNED BY { table_name.column_name | NONE } ]
ALTER SEQUENCE [ IF EXISTS ] name SET { LOGGED | UNLOGGED }
ALTER SEQUENCE [ IF EXISTS ] name OWNER TO { new_owner | CURRENT_ROLE | CURRENT_USER | SESSION_USER }
ALTER SEQUENCE [ IF EXISTS ] name RENAME TO new_name
ALTER SEQUENCE [ IF EXISTS ] name SET SCHEMA new_schema

like, five whole forms. she contains multitudes 💜

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

So ALTER SEQUENCE changes the parameters of an existing sequence generator — it's giving "makeover episode." and the iconique part? any parameters you don't specifically set in your ALTER SEQUENCE command just keep their prior settings. she's not gonna mess with stuff you didn't ask her to touch ✨

You must own the sequence to use ALTER SEQUENCE. periodt. and if you wanna change a sequence's schema, you also need CREATE privilege on the new schema. and to alter the owner, you gotta also be a direct or indirect member of the new owning role, and that role must have CREATE privilege on the sequence's schema. (these restrictions are there to enforce that altering the owner doesn't let you do anything you couldn't already do by dropping and recreating the sequence. however — plot twist — a superuser can alter ownership of any sequence anyway 👑)

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🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

• name — the name of a sequence to be altered (optionally schema-qualified, iykyk).
• IF EXISTS — do not throw an error if the sequence doesn't exist. instead a notice is issued in this case. she's being gentle with you 🙈
• data_type — the optional clause AS data_type changes the data type of the sequence. valid types are smallint, integer, and bigint.

changing the data type automatically changes the minimum and maximum values of the sequence if and only if the previous minimum and maximum values were the minimum or maximum value of the old data type (in other words, if the sequence had been created using NO MINVALUE or NO MAXVALUE, implicitly or explicitly). otherwise, the minimum and maximum values are preserved — unless new values are given as part of the same command. if the minimum and maximum values don't fit into the new data type, an error will be generated 💀

• increment — the clause INCREMENT BY increment is optional. a positive value will make an ascending sequence, a negative one a descending sequence. if unspecified, the old increment value will be maintained.
• minvalue, NO MINVALUE — the optional clause MINVALUE minvalue determines the minimum value a sequence can generate. if NO MINVALUE is specified, the defaults of 1 and the minimum value of the data type for ascending and descending sequences, respectively, will be used. if neither option is specified, the current minimum value will be maintained.
• maxvalue, NO MAXVALUE — the optional clause MAXVALUE maxvalue determines the maximum value for the sequence. if NO MAXVALUE is specified, the defaults of the maximum value of the data type and -1 for ascending and descending sequences, respectively, will be used. if neither option is specified, the current maximum value will be maintained.
• start — the optional clause START WITH start changes the recorded start value of the sequence. heads up: this has no effect on the current sequence value — it simply sets the value that future ALTER SEQUENCE RESTART commands will use. she's setting up for later, not doing it now 💅
• restart — the optional clause RESTART [ WITH restart ] changes the current value of the sequence. this is similar to calling the setval function with is_called = false: the specified value will be returned by the next call of nextval. writing RESTART with no restart value is equivalent to supplying the start value that was recorded by CREATE SEQUENCE or last set by ALTER SEQUENCE START WITH.

in contrast to a setval call, a RESTART operation on a sequence is transactional and blocks concurrent transactions from obtaining numbers from the same sequence. if that's not the desired mode of operation, setval should be used. choose wisely bestie 🦋

• cache — the clause CACHE cache enables sequence numbers to be preallocated and stored in memory for faster access. the minimum value is 1 (only one value can be generated at a time, i.e., no cache). if unspecified, the old cache value will be maintained.
• CYCLE — the optional CYCLE key word can be used to enable the sequence to wrap around when the maxvalue or minvalue has been reached by an ascending or descending sequence respectively. if the limit is reached, the next number generated will be the minvalue or maxvalue, respectively. she loops 🔁
• NO CYCLE — if the optional NO CYCLE key word is specified, any calls to nextval after the sequence has reached its maximum value will return an error. if neither CYCLE or NO CYCLE are specified, the old cycle behavior will be maintained.
• SET { LOGGED | UNLOGGED } — this form changes the sequence from unlogged to logged or vice-versa (see CREATE SEQUENCE (CREATE_SEQUENCE(7))). it can't be applied to a temporary sequence. not her vibe 🙅‍♀️
• OWNED BY table_name.column_name, OWNED BY NONE — the OWNED BY option causes the sequence to be associated with a specific table column, such that if that column (or its whole table) is dropped, the sequence will be automatically dropped as well. if specified, this association replaces any previously specified association for the sequence. the specified table must have the same owner and be in the same schema as the sequence. specifying OWNED BY NONE removes any existing association, making the sequence "free-standing" 🦋✨
• new_owner — the user name of the new owner of the sequence.
• new_name — the new name for the sequence.
• new_schema — the new schema for the sequence.

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💀 NOTES 💀

ALTER SEQUENCE will not immediately affect nextval results in backends, other than the current one, that have preallocated (cached) sequence values. they will use up all cached values prior to noticing the changed sequence generation parameters. the current backend will be affected immediately. so if some other session is being weird and stale, that's why 😭

ALTER SEQUENCE does not affect the currval status for the sequence. (before PostgreSQL 8.3, it sometimes did. ancient history fr.)

ALTER SEQUENCE blocks concurrent nextval, currval, lastval, and setval calls. she's holding the line 🔥

for historical reasons, ALTER TABLE can be used with sequences too; but the only variants of ALTER TABLE that are allowed with sequences are equivalent to the forms shown above. no extra tricks, sorry 🎀

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🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

restart a sequence called serial, at 105:

ALTER SEQUENCE serial RESTART WITH 105;

look at her go. iconic. ate and left no crumbs 👑

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⭐ COMPATIBILITY ⭐

ALTER SEQUENCE conforms to the SQL standard — except for the AS, START WITH, OWNED BY, OWNER TO, RENAME TO, and SET SCHEMA clauses, which are PostgreSQL extensions. we're built different, and that's fine 💅

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🫶 SEE ALSO 🫶

CREATE SEQUENCE (CREATE_SEQUENCE(7)), DROP SEQUENCE (DROP_SEQUENCE(7))

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and that's the whole page bestie!! go forth and alter your sequences responsibly 💖 this was PostgreSQL 15.19, dated 2026 — mwah, catch you on the next manpage 🌸🎀💜