ALTER_POLICY(7pg17)

🌸 NAME 🌸

Okay bestie, so ALTER_POLICY — aka the ALTER POLICY(7) page — is literally the glow-up command for changing the definition of a row-level security policy. No cap. 💅

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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 ) ]

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

ALTER POLICY changes the definition of an existing row-level security policy. It’s giving “small edits only,” though, so listen up: ALTER POLICY only allows the set of roles to which the policy applies and the USING and WITH CHECK expressions to be modified. That’s the whole menu. 🎀

To change other properties of a policy — like the command to which it applies or whether it is permissive or restrictive — the policy must be dropped and recreated. No sneaky side-door edits, bestie. 💀

To use ALTER POLICY, you must own the table that the policy applies to. Owner energy only, periodt. 👑

In the second form of ALTER POLICY, the role list, using_expression, and check_expression are replaced independently if specified. When one of those clauses is omitted, the corresponding part of the policy is unchanged. So if you skip a clause, it stays exactly as it was — iconic “no thoughts, just untouched” behaviour. 🫶

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🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

• name — the name of an existing policy to alter. The main character policy, in other words. 🌟
• table_name — the name (optionally schema-qualified) of the table that the policy is on. Yes, schema-qualified is allowed, iykyk. 🧚
• new_name — the new name for the policy. Rename era unlocked. ✨
• role_name — the role(s) to which the policy applies. Multiple roles can be specified at one time. To apply the policy to all roles, use PUBLIC. Group-chat invite list, basically. 💌
• using_expression — the USING expression for the policy. See CREATE POLICY (CREATE_POLICY(7)) for details. 👀
• check_expression — the WITH CHECK expression for the policy. See CREATE POLICY (CREATE_POLICY(7)) for details. ✅

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🌈 COMPATIBILITY 🌈

ALTER POLICY is a PostgreSQL extension. Very PostgreSQL-coded of it. 💜

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🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

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

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And that’s the page, bestie — sourced from PostgreSQL 17.11, dated 2026, and signed off with maximum sparkle. Mwah. 💋🎀🦋