ALTER FOREIGN TABLE(7) PostgreSQL 9.6.6 Documentation ALTER FOREIGN TABLE(7)
NAME
ALTER_FOREIGN_TABLE - change the definition of a foreign table
SYNOPSIS
ALTER FOREIGN TABLE [ IF EXISTS ] [ ONLY ] name [ * ]
action [, ... ]
ALTER FOREIGN TABLE [ IF EXISTS ] [ ONLY ] name [ * ]
RENAME [ COLUMN ] column_name TO new_column_name
ALTER FOREIGN TABLE [ IF EXISTS ] name
RENAME TO new_name
ALTER FOREIGN TABLE [ IF EXISTS ] name
SET SCHEMA new_schema
where action is one of:
ADD [ COLUMN ] column_name data_type [ COLLATE collation ] [ column_constraint [ ... ] ]
DROP [ COLUMN ] [ IF EXISTS ] column_name [ RESTRICT | CASCADE ]
ALTER [ COLUMN ] column_name [ SET DATA ] TYPE data_type [ COLLATE collation ]
ALTER [ COLUMN ] column_name SET DEFAULT expression
ALTER [ COLUMN ] column_name DROP DEFAULT
ALTER [ COLUMN ] column_name { SET | DROP } NOT NULL
ALTER [ COLUMN ] column_name SET STATISTICS integer
ALTER [ COLUMN ] column_name SET ( attribute_option = value [, ... ] )
ALTER [ COLUMN ] column_name RESET ( attribute_option [, ... ] )
ALTER [ COLUMN ] column_name SET STORAGE { PLAIN | EXTERNAL | EXTENDED | MAIN }
ALTER [ COLUMN ] column_name OPTIONS ( [ ADD | SET | DROP ] option ['value'] [, ... ])
ADD table_constraint [ NOT VALID ]
VALIDATE CONSTRAINT constraint_name
DROP CONSTRAINT [ IF EXISTS ] constraint_name [ RESTRICT | CASCADE ]
DISABLE TRIGGER [ trigger_name | ALL | USER ]
ENABLE TRIGGER [ trigger_name | ALL | USER ]
ENABLE REPLICA TRIGGER trigger_name
ENABLE ALWAYS TRIGGER trigger_name
SET WITH OIDS
SET WITHOUT OIDS
INHERIT parent_table
NO INHERIT parent_table
OWNER TO { new_owner | CURRENT_USER | SESSION_USER }
OPTIONS ( [ ADD | SET | DROP ] option ['value'] [, ... ])
DESCRIPTION
ALTER FOREIGN TABLE changes the definition of an existing foreign
table. There are several subforms:
ADD COLUMN
This form adds a new column to the foreign table, using the same
syntax as CREATE FOREIGN TABLE (CREATE_FOREIGN_TABLE(7)). Unlike
the case when adding a column to a regular table, nothing happens
to the underlying storage: this action simply declares that some
new column is now accessible through the foreign table.
DROP COLUMN [ IF EXISTS ]
This form drops a column from a foreign table. You will need to say
CASCADE if anything outside the table depends on the column; for
example, views. If IF EXISTS is specified and the column does not
exist, no error is thrown. In this case a notice is issued instead.
SET DATA TYPE
This form changes the type of a column of a foreign table. Again,
this has no effect on any underlying storage: this action simply
changes the type that PostgreSQL believes the column to have.
SET/DROP DEFAULT
These forms set or remove the default value for a column. Default
values only apply in subsequent INSERT or UPDATE commands; they do
not cause rows already in the table to change.
SET/DROP NOT NULL
Mark a column as allowing, or not allowing, null values.
SET STATISTICS
This form sets the per-column statistics-gathering target for
subsequent ANALYZE(7) operations. See the similar form of ALTER
TABLE (ALTER_TABLE(7)) for more details.
SET ( attribute_option = value [, ... ] )
RESET ( attribute_option [, ... ] )
This form sets or resets per-attribute options. See the similar
form of ALTER TABLE (ALTER_TABLE(7)) for more details.
SET STORAGE
This form sets the storage mode for a column. See the similar form
of ALTER TABLE (ALTER_TABLE(7)) for more details. Note that the
storage mode has no effect unless the table's foreign-data wrapper
chooses to pay attention to it.
ADD table_constraint [ NOT VALID ]
This form adds a new constraint to a foreign table, using the same
syntax as CREATE FOREIGN TABLE (CREATE_FOREIGN_TABLE(7)). Currently
only CHECK constraints are supported.
Unlike the case when adding a constraint to a regular table,
nothing is done to verify the constraint is correct; rather, this
action simply declares that some new condition should be assumed to
hold for all rows in the foreign table. (See the discussion in
CREATE FOREIGN TABLE (CREATE_FOREIGN_TABLE(7)).) If the constraint
is marked NOT VALID, then it isn't assumed to hold, but is only
recorded for possible future use.
VALIDATE CONSTRAINT
This form marks as valid a constraint that was previously marked as
NOT VALID. No action is taken to verify the constraint, but future
queries will assume that it holds.
DROP CONSTRAINT [ IF EXISTS ]
This form drops the specified constraint on a foreign table. If IF
EXISTS is specified and the constraint does not exist, no error is
thrown. In this case a notice is issued instead.
DISABLE/ENABLE [ REPLICA | ALWAYS ] TRIGGER
These forms configure the firing of trigger(s) belonging to the
foreign table. See the similar form of ALTER TABLE (ALTER_TABLE(7))
for more details.
SET WITH OIDS
This form adds an oid system column to the table (see Section 5.4,
"System Columns", in the documentation). It does nothing if the
table already has OIDs. Unless the table's foreign-data wrapper
supports OIDs, this column will simply read as zeroes.
Note that this is not equivalent to ADD COLUMN oid oid; that would
add a normal column that happened to be named oid, not a system
column.
SET WITHOUT OIDS
This form removes the oid system column from the table. This is
exactly equivalent to DROP COLUMN oid RESTRICT, except that it will
not complain if there is already no oid column.
INHERIT parent_table
This form adds the target foreign table as a new child of the
specified parent table. See the similar form of ALTER TABLE
(ALTER_TABLE(7)) for more details.
NO INHERIT parent_table
This form removes the target foreign table from the list of
children of the specified parent table.
OWNER
This form changes the owner of the foreign table to the specified
user.
OPTIONS ( [ ADD | SET | DROP ] option ['value'] [, ... ] )
Change options for the foreign table or one of its columns. ADD,
SET, and DROP specify the action to be performed. ADD is assumed
if no operation is explicitly specified. Duplicate option names are
not allowed (although it's OK for a table option and a column
option to have the same name). Option names and values are also
validated using the foreign data wrapper library.
RENAME
The RENAME forms change the name of a foreign table or the name of
an individual column in a foreign table.
SET SCHEMA
This form moves the foreign table into another schema.
All the actions except RENAME and SET SCHEMA can be combined into a
list of multiple alterations to apply in parallel. For example, it is
possible to add several columns and/or alter the type of several
columns in a single command.
If the command is written as ALTER FOREIGN TABLE IF EXISTS ... and the
foreign table does not exist, no error is thrown. A notice is issued in
this case.
You must own the table to use ALTER FOREIGN TABLE. To change the schema
of a foreign table, you must also have CREATE privilege on the new
schema. To alter the owner, you must also be a direct or indirect
member of the new owning role, and that role must have CREATE privilege
on the table's schema. (These restrictions enforce that altering the
owner doesn't do anything you couldn't do by dropping and recreating
the table. However, a superuser can alter ownership of any table
anyway.) To add a column or alter a column type, you must also have
USAGE privilege on the data type.
PARAMETERS
name
The name (possibly schema-qualified) of an existing foreign table
to alter. If ONLY is specified before the table name, only that
table is altered. If ONLY is not specified, the table and all its
descendant tables (if any) are altered. Optionally, * can be
specified after the table name to explicitly indicate that
descendant tables are included.
column_name
Name of a new or existing column.
new_column_name
New name for an existing column.
new_name
New name for the table.
data_type
Data type of the new column, or new data type for an existing
column.
table_constraint
New table constraint for the foreign table.
constraint_name
Name of an existing constraint to drop.
CASCADE
Automatically drop objects that depend on the dropped column or
constraint (for example, views referencing the column), and in turn
all objects that depend on those objects (see Section 5.13,
"Dependency Tracking", in the documentation).
RESTRICT
Refuse to drop the column or constraint if there are any dependent
objects. This is the default behavior.
trigger_name
Name of a single trigger to disable or enable.
ALL
Disable or enable all triggers belonging to the foreign table.
(This requires superuser privilege if any of the triggers are
internally generated triggers. The core system does not add such
triggers to foreign tables, but add-on code could do so.)
USER
Disable or enable all triggers belonging to the foreign table
except for internally generated triggers.
parent_table
A parent table to associate or de-associate with this foreign
table.
new_owner
The user name of the new owner of the table.
new_schema
The name of the schema to which the table will be moved.
NOTES
The key word COLUMN is noise and can be omitted.
Consistency with the foreign server is not checked when a column is
added or removed with ADD COLUMN or DROP COLUMN, a NOT NULL or CHECK
constraint is added, or a column type is changed with SET DATA TYPE. It
is the user's responsibility to ensure that the table definition
matches the remote side.
Refer to CREATE FOREIGN TABLE (CREATE_FOREIGN_TABLE(7)) for a further
description of valid parameters.
EXAMPLES
To mark a column as not-null:
ALTER FOREIGN TABLE distributors ALTER COLUMN street SET NOT NULL;
To change options of a foreign table:
ALTER FOREIGN TABLE myschema.distributors OPTIONS (ADD opt1 'value', SET opt2 'value2', DROP opt3 'value3');
COMPATIBILITY
The forms ADD, DROP, and SET DATA TYPE conform with the SQL standard.
The other forms are PostgreSQL extensions of the SQL standard. Also,
the ability to specify more than one manipulation in a single ALTER
FOREIGN TABLE command is an extension.
ALTER FOREIGN TABLE DROP COLUMN can be used to drop the only column of
a foreign table, leaving a zero-column table. This is an extension of
SQL, which disallows zero-column foreign tables.
SEE ALSO
CREATE FOREIGN TABLE (CREATE_FOREIGN_TABLE(7)), DROP FOREIGN TABLE
(DROP_FOREIGN_TABLE(7))
PostgreSQL 9.6.6 2017 ALTER FOREIGN TABLE(7)
PostgreSQL 9.6.6 - Generated Fri Dec 1 19:46:41 CST 2017