ALTER_OPERATOR(7pg18)

💖 ALTER OPERATOR — the glow-up era 💖

okay bestie, welcome to ALTER OPERATOR(7) from the PostgreSQL 18.6 Documentation ✨ this is the page where we learn how to change up an operator's whole situation — new owner, new schema, new selectivity estimators, the works. no cap.

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🌸 NAME 🌸

ALTER OPERATOR — change the definition of an operator 💅

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

ALTER OPERATOR name ( { left_type | NONE } , right_type )
    OWNER TO { new_owner | CURRENT_ROLE | CURRENT_USER | SESSION_USER }

ALTER OPERATOR name ( { left_type | NONE } , right_type )
    SET SCHEMA new_schema

ALTER OPERATOR name ( { left_type | NONE } , right_type )
    SET ( {  RESTRICT = { res_proc | NONE }
           | JOIN = { join_proc | NONE }
           | COMMUTATOR = com_op
           | NEGATOR = neg_op
           | HASHES
           | MERGES
          } [, ... ] )

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

ALTER OPERATOR changes the definition of an operator. it's giving operator makeover 💜

so like, you must own the operator to use ALTER OPERATOR. no owning, no altering, periodt.

and if you wanna change the owner? you gotta be able to SET ROLE to the new owning role, AND that role needs CREATE privilege on the operator's schema. why, you ask? because these restrictions enforce that altering the owner doesn't do anything you couldn't do by dropping and recreating the operator. makes sense bestie 🫶

BUT — plot twist — a superuser can alter ownership of any operator anyway 👑 iconic.

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🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

• name — the name of an existing operator, optionally schema-qualified. the whole government name if you need it 💅
• left_type — the data type of the operator's left operand. write NONE if the operator has no left operand. yes literally the word NONE, not a type, not vibes 🫶
• right_type — the data type of the operator's right operand.
• new_owner — the new owner of the operator. glow-up delivered 📦✨
• new_schema — the new schema for the operator. moving out, moving on 🦋
• res_proc — the restriction selectivity estimator function for this operator. write NONE to remove existing selectivity estimator.
• join_proc — the join selectivity estimator function for this operator. write NONE to remove existing selectivity estimator.
• com_op — the commutator of this operator. heads up: can only be changed if the operator does not have an existing commutator.
• neg_op — the negator of this operator. same rule, bestie: can only be changed if the operator does not have an existing negator.
• HASHES — indicates this operator can support a hash join. can only be enabled and not disabled. one-way street, no take-backs 🔥
• MERGES — indicates this operator can support a merge join. can only be enabled and not disabled. same energy 💀

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💜 NOTES 💜

refer to Section 36.14 and Section 36.15 for further information 📚

now this part is lowkey important so listen up:

since commutators come in pairs that are commutators of each other, ALTER OPERATOR SET COMMUTATOR will also set the commutator of the com_op to be the target operator. likewise, ALTER OPERATOR SET NEGATOR will also set the negator of the neg_op to be the target operator. it's mutual, it's reciprocal, it's a whole situationship 🥺

and the consequence of all that? you must own the commutator or negator operator as well as the target operator. both of them. no skipping 👑

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🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

change the owner of a custom operator a @@ b for type text:

ALTER OPERATOR @@ (text, text) OWNER TO joe;

change the restriction and join selectivity estimator functions of a custom operator a && b for type int[]:

ALTER OPERATOR && (int[], int[]) SET (RESTRICT = _int_contsel, JOIN = _int_contjoinsel);

mark the && operator as being its own commutator:

ALTER OPERATOR && (int[], int[]) SET (COMMUTATOR = &&);

ate. no crumbs. 💅

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🍓 COMPATIBILITY 🍓

there is no ALTER OPERATOR statement in the SQL standard. we're off-script, we're original, we're built different 😌

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• CREATE OPERATOR (CREATE_OPERATOR(7))
• DROP OPERATOR (DROP_OPERATOR(7))

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and that's the whole page bestie!! 🧚 this was PostgreSQL 18.6, dated 2026, and you absolutely slayed reading all of it. go forth and alter those operators responsibly 🫶✨💖