ALTER PROCEDURE
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## ALTER PROCEDURE

ALTER PROCEDURE — change the definition of a procedure

## Synopsis

    ALTER PROCEDURE name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ]
        action [ ... ] [ RESTRICT ]
    ALTER PROCEDURE name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ]
        RENAME TO new_name
    ALTER PROCEDURE name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ]
        OWNER TO { new_owner | CURRENT_ROLE | CURRENT_USER | SESSION_USER }
    ALTER PROCEDURE name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ]
        SET SCHEMA new_schema
    ALTER PROCEDURE name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ]
        [ NO ] DEPENDS ON EXTENSION extension_name

    where action is one of:

        [ EXTERNAL ] SECURITY INVOKER | [ EXTERNAL ] SECURITY DEFINER
        SET configuration_parameter { TO | = } { value | DEFAULT }
        SET configuration_parameter FROM CURRENT
        RESET configuration_parameter
        RESET ALL

## Description

ALTER PROCEDURE changes the definition of a procedure.

You must own the procedure to use ALTER PROCEDURE. To change a procedure'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 procedure's schema. (These restrictions enforce that altering the owner doesn't do anything you couldn't do by dropping and recreating the procedure. However, a superuser can alter ownership of any procedure anyway.)

## Parameters

`name`

  The name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing procedure. 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`.

`argname`

  The name of an argument. Note that ALTER PROCEDURE does not actually pay any attention to argument names, since only the argument data types are used to determine the procedure's identity.

`argtype`

  The data type(s) of the procedure's arguments (optionally schema-qualified), if any. See DROP PROCEDURE for the details of how the procedure is looked up using the argument data type(s).

`new_name`

  The new name of the procedure.

`new_owner`

  The new owner of the procedure. Note that if the procedure is marked `SECURITY DEFINER`, it will subsequently execute as the new owner.

`new_schema`

  The new schema for the procedure.

`extension_name`

  This form marks the procedure as dependent on the extension, or no longer dependent on the extension if `NO` is specified. A procedure that's marked as dependent on an extension is dropped when the extension is dropped, even if cascade is not specified. A procedure can depend upon multiple extensions, and will be dropped when any one of those extensions is dropped.

`[ EXTERNAL ] SECURITY INVOKER`
`[ EXTERNAL ] SECURITY DEFINER`

  Change whether the procedure is a security definer or not. The key word `EXTERNAL` is ignored for SQL conformance. See CREATE PROCEDURE for more information about this capability.

`configuration_parameter`
`value`

  Add or change the assignment to be made to a configuration parameter when the procedure is called. If `value` is `DEFAULT` or, equivalently, `RESET` is used, the procedure-local setting is removed, so that the procedure executes with the value present in its environment. Use `RESET ALL` to clear all procedure-local settings. `SET FROM CURRENT` saves the value of the parameter that is current when ALTER PROCEDURE is executed as the value to be applied when the procedure is entered.

  See SET and Chapter 19 for more information about allowed parameter names and values.

`RESTRICT`

  Ignored for conformance with the SQL standard.

## Examples

To rename the procedure `insert_data` with two arguments of type integer to `insert_record`:

    ALTER PROCEDURE insert_data(integer, integer) RENAME TO insert_record;

To change the owner of the procedure `insert_data` with two arguments of type integer to `joe`:

    ALTER PROCEDURE insert_data(integer, integer) OWNER TO joe;

To change the schema of the procedure `insert_data` with two arguments of type integer to `accounting`:

    ALTER PROCEDURE insert_data(integer, integer) SET SCHEMA accounting;

To mark the procedure `insert_data(integer, integer)` as being dependent on the extension `myext`:

    ALTER PROCEDURE insert_data(integer, integer) DEPENDS ON EXTENSION myext;

To adjust the search path that is automatically set for a procedure:

    ALTER PROCEDURE check_password(text) SET search_path = admin, pg_temp;

To disable automatic setting of `search_path` for a procedure:

    ALTER PROCEDURE check_password(text) RESET search_path;

The procedure will now execute with whatever search path is used by its caller.

## Compatibility

This statement is partially compatible with the ALTER PROCEDURE statement in the SQL standard. The standard allows more properties of a procedure to be modified, but does not provide the ability to rename a procedure, make a procedure a security definer, attach configuration parameter values to a procedure, or change the owner, schema, or volatility of a procedure. The standard also requires the `RESTRICT` key word, which is optional in PostgreSQL™.

## See Also

CREATE PROCEDURE, DROP PROCEDURE, ALTER FUNCTION, ALTER ROUTINE

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