ALTER DATABASE — change a database
ALTER DATABASEname[ [ WITH ]option[ ... ] ] whereoptioncan be: ALLOW_CONNECTIONSallowconnCONNECTION LIMITconnlimitIS_TEMPLATEistemplateALTER DATABASEnameRENAME TOnew_nameALTER DATABASEnameOWNER TO {new_owner| CURRENT_ROLE | CURRENT_USER | SESSION_USER } ALTER DATABASEnameSET TABLESPACEnew_tablespaceALTER DATABASEnameREFRESH COLLATION VERSION ALTER DATABASEnameSETconfiguration_parameter{ TO | = } {value| DEFAULT } ALTER DATABASEnameSETconfiguration_parameterFROM CURRENT ALTER DATABASEnameRESETconfiguration_parameterALTER DATABASEnameRESET ALL
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 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 third form changes the owner of the database. To alter the owner, you must be able to SET ROLE to the new owning role, and you must have the CREATEDB privilege. (Note that superusers have all these privileges automatically.)
The fourth form changes the default tablespace of the database. Only the database owner or a superuser can do this; you must also have create privilege for the new tablespace. This command physically moves any tables or indexes in the database's old default tablespace to the new tablespace. The new default tablespace must be empty for this database, and no one can be connected to the database. Tables and indexes in non-default tablespaces are unaffected. The method used to copy files to the new tablespace is affected by the file_copy_method setting.
The remaining 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 postgres 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.
nameThe name of the database whose attributes are to be altered.
allowconnIf false then no one can connect to this database.
connlimitHow many concurrent connections can be made to this database. -1 means no limit.
istemplateIf true, then this database can be cloned by any user with CREATEDB privileges; if false, then only superusers or the owner of the database can clone it.
new_nameThe new name of the database.
new_ownerThe new owner of the database.
new_tablespaceThe new default tablespace of the database.
This form of the command cannot be executed inside a transaction block.
REFRESH COLLATION VERSIONUpdate the database collation version. See Notes for background.
configuration_parametervalueSet 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. SET FROM CURRENT saves the session's current value of the parameter as the database-specific value.
See SET and Chapter 19 for more information about allowed parameter names and values.
It is also possible to tie a session default to a specific role rather than to a database; see ALTER ROLE. Role-specific settings override database-specific ones if there is a conflict.
To disable index scans by default in the database test:
ALTER DATABASE test SET enable_indexscan TO off;
The ALTER DATABASE statement is a PostgreSQL extension.