ALTER_TEXT_SEARCH_CONFIGURATION(7pg16)

ALTER_TEXT_SEARCH_CONFIGURATION ✨ from the PostgreSQL 16.15 Documentation, bestie 🎀

💖 NAME 💖

okay so this is ALTER_TEXT_SEARCH_CONFIGURATION — the whole vibe is change the definition of a text search configuration. no cap, it's giving "let me remix my token-to-dictionary mappings, or rename/re-owner this configuration" energy. 🦋

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

bestie, here's the exact menu of forms, character for character:

ALTER TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION name
    ADD MAPPING FOR token_type [, ... ] WITH dictionary_name [, ... ]
ALTER TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION name
    ALTER MAPPING FOR token_type [, ... ] WITH dictionary_name [, ... ]
ALTER TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION name
    ALTER MAPPING REPLACE old_dictionary WITH new_dictionary
ALTER TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION name
    ALTER MAPPING FOR token_type [, ... ] REPLACE old_dictionary WITH new_dictionary
ALTER TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION name
    DROP MAPPING [ IF EXISTS ] FOR token_type [, ... ]
ALTER TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION name RENAME TO new_name
ALTER TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION name OWNER TO { new_owner | CURRENT_ROLE | CURRENT_USER | SESSION_USER }
ALTER TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION name SET SCHEMA new_schema

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

ALTER TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION changes the definition of a text search configuration. You can modify its mappings from token types to dictionaries, or change the configuration's name or owner.

also: you must be the owner of the configuration to use ALTER TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION. that's not optional, bestie 💅

🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

• name — the name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing text search configuration.
• token_type — the name of a token type that is emitted by the configuration's parser.
• dictionary_name — the name of a text search dictionary to be consulted for the specified token type(s). If multiple dictionaries are listed, they are consulted in the specified order.
• old_dictionary — the name of a text search dictionary to be replaced in the mapping.
• new_dictionary — the name of a text search dictionary to be substituted for old_dictionary.
• new_name — the new name of the text search configuration.
• new_owner — the new owner of the text search configuration.
• new_schema — the new schema for the text search configuration.

okay so here's how the forms actually act, lowkey important:

• ADD MAPPING FOR — installs a list of dictionaries to be consulted for the specified token type(s); it is an error if there is already a mapping for any of the token types.
• ALTER MAPPING FOR — does the same, but first removing any existing mapping for those token types.
• ALTER MAPPING REPLACE — substitutes new_dictionary for old_dictionary anywhere the latter appears. This is done for only the specified token types when FOR appears, or for all mappings of the configuration when it doesn't.
• DROP MAPPING — removes all dictionaries for the specified token type(s), causing tokens of those types to be ignored by the text search configuration. It is an error if there is no mapping for the token types, unless IF EXISTS appears.

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

The following example replaces the english dictionary with the swedish dictionary anywhere that english is used within my_config.

ALTER TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION my_config
  ALTER MAPPING REPLACE english WITH swedish;

⭐ COMPATIBILITY ⭐

There is no ALTER TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION statement in the SQL standard. periodt.

🫶 SEE ALSO 🫶

go read these next, iykyk:

CREATE TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION (CREATE_TEXT_SEARCH_CONFIGURATION(7)),
DROP TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION (DROP_TEXT_SEARCH_CONFIGURATION(7))

that's the whole page! source/version: PostgreSQL 16.15 ✨ date: 2026 🎀