ALTER DATABASE

Name

ALTER DATABASE — change a database

Synopsis

ALTER DATABASE name [ [ WITH ] option [ ... ] ]

where option can be:

    CONNECTION LIMIT connlimit

ALTER DATABASE name SET parameter { TO | = } { value | DEFAULT }
ALTER DATABASE name RESET parameter

ALTER DATABASE name RENAME TO newname

ALTER DATABASE name OWNER TO new_owner

Description

ALTER DATABASE changes the attributes of a database.

The first form changes certain per-database settings. (See below for details.) Only the database owner or a superuser can change these settings.

The second and third forms change the session default for a run-time configuration variable for a PostgreSQL database. Whenever a new session is subsequently started in that database, the specified value becomes the session default value. The database-specific default overrides whatever setting is present in postgresql.conf or has been received from the postmaster command line. Only the database owner or a superuser can change the session defaults for a database. Certain variables cannot be set this way, or can only be set by a superuser.

The fourth form changes the name of the database. Only the database owner or a superuser can rename a database; non-superuser owners must also have the CREATEDB privilege. The current database cannot be renamed. (Connect to a different database if you need to do that.)

The fifth form changes the owner of the database. Only a superuser can change the database's owner.

Parameters

name

The name of the database whose attributes are to be altered.

connlimit

How many concurrent connections can be made to this database. -1 means no limit.

parameter value

Set this database's session default for the specified configuration parameter to the given value. If value is DEFAULT or, equivalently, RESET is used, the database-specific setting is removed, so the system-wide default setting will be inherited in new sessions. Use RESET ALL to clear all database-specific settings.

See SET and Chapter 17, Run-time Configuration for more information about allowed parameter names and values.

newname

The new name of the database.

new_owner

The new owner of the database.

Notes

It is also possible to tie a session default to a specific user rather than to a database; see ALTER USER. User-specific settings override database-specific ones if there is a conflict.

Examples

To disable index scans by default in the database test:

ALTER DATABASE test SET enable_indexscan TO off;

Compatibility

The ALTER DATABASE statement is a PostgreSQL extension.