NAME¶

ALTER_INDEX - change the definition of an index

SYNOPSIS¶

ALTER INDEX [ IF EXISTS ] name RENAME TO new_name
ALTER INDEX [ IF EXISTS ] name SET TABLESPACE tablespace_name
ALTER INDEX [ IF EXISTS ] name SET ( storage_parameter = value [, ... ] )
ALTER INDEX [ IF EXISTS ] name RESET ( storage_parameter [, ... ] )

DESCRIPTION¶

ALTER INDEX changes the definition of an existing index. There are several subforms:

RENAME

SET TABLESPACE

SET ( storage_parameter = value [, ... ] )

RESET ( storage_parameter [, ... ] )

PARAMETERS¶

IF EXISTS

name

new_name

tablespace_name

storage_parameter

value

NOTES¶

These operations are also possible using ALTER TABLE (ALTER_TABLE(7)). ALTER INDEX is in fact just an alias for the forms of ALTER TABLE that apply to indexes.

There was formerly an ALTER INDEX OWNER variant, but this is now ignored (with a warning). An index cannot have an owner different from its table's owner. Changing the table's owner automatically changes the index as well.

Changing any part of a system catalog index is not permitted.

EXAMPLES¶

To rename an existing index:

ALTER INDEX distributors RENAME TO suppliers;

To move an index to a different tablespace:

ALTER INDEX distributors SET TABLESPACE fasttablespace;

To change an index's fill factor (assuming that the index method supports it):

ALTER INDEX distributors SET (fillfactor = 75);
REINDEX INDEX distributors;

COMPATIBILITY¶

ALTER INDEX is a PostgreSQL extension.

SEE ALSO¶

CREATE INDEX (CREATE_INDEX(7)), REINDEX(7)