ALTER FUNCTION(7) PostgreSQL 16.7 Documentation ALTER FUNCTION(7)
NAME
ALTER_FUNCTION - change the definition of a function
SYNOPSIS
ALTER FUNCTION name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ]
action [ ... ] [ RESTRICT ]
ALTER FUNCTION name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ]
RENAME TO new_name
ALTER FUNCTION name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ]
OWNER TO { new_owner | CURRENT_ROLE | CURRENT_USER | SESSION_USER }
ALTER FUNCTION name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ]
SET SCHEMA new_schema
ALTER FUNCTION name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ]
[ NO ] DEPENDS ON EXTENSION extension_name
where action is one of:
CALLED ON NULL INPUT | RETURNS NULL ON NULL INPUT | STRICT
IMMUTABLE | STABLE | VOLATILE
[ NOT ] LEAKPROOF
[ EXTERNAL ] SECURITY INVOKER | [ EXTERNAL ] SECURITY DEFINER
PARALLEL { UNSAFE | RESTRICTED | SAFE }
COST execution_cost
ROWS result_rows
SUPPORT support_function
SET configuration_parameter { TO | = } { value | DEFAULT }
SET configuration_parameter FROM CURRENT
RESET configuration_parameter
RESET ALL
DESCRIPTION
ALTER FUNCTION changes the definition of a function.
You must own the function to use ALTER FUNCTION. To change a function's
schema, you must also have CREATE privilege on the new schema. To alter
the owner, you must be able to SET ROLE to the new owning role, and
that role must have CREATE privilege on the function's schema. (These
restrictions enforce that altering the owner doesn't do anything you
couldn't do by dropping and recreating the function. However, a
superuser can alter ownership of any function anyway.)
PARAMETERS
name
The name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing function. If
no argument list is specified, the name must be unique in its
schema.
argmode
The mode of an argument: IN, OUT, INOUT, or VARIADIC. If omitted,
the default is IN. Note that ALTER FUNCTION does not actually pay
any attention to OUT arguments, since only the input arguments are
needed to determine the function's identity. So it is sufficient to
list the IN, INOUT, and VARIADIC arguments.
argname
The name of an argument. Note that ALTER FUNCTION does not actually
pay any attention to argument names, since only the argument data
types are needed to determine the function's identity.
argtype
The data type(s) of the function's arguments (optionally
schema-qualified), if any.
new_name
The new name of the function.
new_owner
The new owner of the function. Note that if the function is marked
SECURITY DEFINER, it will subsequently execute as the new owner.
new_schema
The new schema for the function.
DEPENDS ON EXTENSION extension_name
NO DEPENDS ON EXTENSION extension_name
This form marks the function as dependent on the extension, or no
longer dependent on that extension if NO is specified. A function
that's marked as dependent on an extension is dropped when the
extension is dropped, even if CASCADE is not specified. A function
can depend upon multiple extensions, and will be dropped when any
one of those extensions is dropped.
CALLED ON NULL INPUT
RETURNS NULL ON NULL INPUT
STRICT
CALLED ON NULL INPUT changes the function so that it will be
invoked when some or all of its arguments are null. RETURNS NULL
ON NULL INPUT or STRICT changes the function so that it is not
invoked if any of its arguments are null; instead, a null result is
assumed automatically. See CREATE FUNCTION (CREATE_FUNCTION(7)) for
more information.
IMMUTABLE
STABLE
VOLATILE
Change the volatility of the function to the specified setting. See
CREATE FUNCTION (CREATE_FUNCTION(7)) for details.
[ EXTERNAL ] SECURITY INVOKER
[ EXTERNAL ] SECURITY DEFINER
Change whether the function is a security definer or not. The key
word EXTERNAL is ignored for SQL conformance. See CREATE FUNCTION
(CREATE_FUNCTION(7)) for more information about this capability.
PARALLEL
Change whether the function is deemed safe for parallelism. See
CREATE FUNCTION (CREATE_FUNCTION(7)) for details.
LEAKPROOF
Change whether the function is considered leakproof or not. See
CREATE FUNCTION (CREATE_FUNCTION(7)) for more information about
this capability.
COST execution_cost
Change the estimated execution cost of the function. See CREATE
FUNCTION (CREATE_FUNCTION(7)) for more information.
ROWS result_rows
Change the estimated number of rows returned by a set-returning
function. See CREATE FUNCTION (CREATE_FUNCTION(7)) for more
information.
SUPPORT support_function
Set or change the planner support function to use for this
function. See Section 38.11 for details. You must be superuser to
use this option.
This option cannot be used to remove the support function
altogether, since it must name a new support function. Use CREATE
OR REPLACE FUNCTION if you need to do that.
configuration_parameter
value
Add or change the assignment to be made to a configuration
parameter when the function is called. If value is DEFAULT or,
equivalently, RESET is used, the function-local setting is removed,
so that the function executes with the value present in its
environment. Use RESET ALL to clear all function-local settings.
SET FROM CURRENT saves the value of the parameter that is current
when ALTER FUNCTION is executed as the value to be applied when the
function is entered.
See SET(7) and Chapter 20 for more information about allowed
parameter names and values.
RESTRICT
Ignored for conformance with the SQL standard.
EXAMPLES
To rename the function sqrt for type integer to square_root:
ALTER FUNCTION sqrt(integer) RENAME TO square_root;
To change the owner of the function sqrt for type integer to joe:
ALTER FUNCTION sqrt(integer) OWNER TO joe;
To change the schema of the function sqrt for type integer to maths:
ALTER FUNCTION sqrt(integer) SET SCHEMA maths;
To mark the function sqrt for type integer as being dependent on the
extension mathlib:
ALTER FUNCTION sqrt(integer) DEPENDS ON EXTENSION mathlib;
To adjust the search path that is automatically set for a function:
ALTER FUNCTION check_password(text) SET search_path = admin, pg_temp;
To disable automatic setting of search_path for a function:
ALTER FUNCTION check_password(text) RESET search_path;
The function will now execute with whatever search path is used by its
caller.
COMPATIBILITY
This statement is partially compatible with the ALTER FUNCTION
statement in the SQL standard. The standard allows more properties of a
function to be modified, but does not provide the ability to rename a
function, make a function a security definer, attach configuration
parameter values to a function, or change the owner, schema, or
volatility of a function. The standard also requires the RESTRICT key
word, which is optional in PostgreSQL.
SEE ALSO
CREATE FUNCTION (CREATE_FUNCTION(7)), DROP FUNCTION (DROP_FUNCTION(7)),
ALTER PROCEDURE (ALTER_PROCEDURE(7)), ALTER ROUTINE (ALTER_ROUTINE(7))
PostgreSQL 16.7 2025 ALTER FUNCTION(7)
postgresql 16.7 - Generated Sat Mar 22 10:08:31 CDT 2025