ALTER USER
SQL - Language Statements
ALTER USER
Modifies user account information
1998-09-08
ALTER USER username
[ WITH PASSWORD password ]
[ CREATEDB | NOCREATEDB ]
[ CREATEUSER | NOCREATEUSER ]
[ IN GROUP groupname [, ...] ]
[ VALID UNTIL 'abstime' ]
1998-09-08
Inputs
Refer to CREATE USER for a detailed description of each
clause.
username
The Postgres account name of the user whose details are to be altered.
password
The new password to be used for this account.
groupname
The name of an access group into which this account is to be put.
abstime
The date (and, optionally, the time)
at which this user's access is to be terminated.
1998-09-08
Outputs
ALTER USER
Message returned if the alteration was successful.
ERROR: alterUser: user "username" does not exist
Error message returned if the user specified doesn't
exist.
1998-09-08
Description
ALTER USER is used to change the attributes of a user's
Postgres account.
Please note that it is not possible
to alter a user's "usesysid" via the alter user
statement. Also, it is only possible for the
Postgres
user or any user with read and modify permissions on
"pg_shadow" to alter user passwords.
If any of the clauses of the alter user statement are
omitted, the corresponding value in the "pg_shadow" table
is left unchanged.
1998-09-08
Notes
ALTER USER statement
is a Postgres
language extension.
Refer to CREATE/DROP USER
to create or remove a user
account.
In the current release (v6.5), the IN GROUP clause is parsed
but has no affect. When it is fully implemented, it is
intended to modify the pg_group relation.
Usage
Change a user password
ALTER USER davide WITH PASSWORD hu8jmn3;
Change a user's valid until date
ALTER USER manuel VALID UNTIL 'Jan 31 2030';
Change a user's valid until date, specifying that his
authorisation should expire at midday on 4th May 1998 using
the time zone which is one hour ahead of UTC
ALTER USER chris VALID UNTIL 'May 4 12:00:00 1998 +1';
Give a user the ability to create other users and new databases.
ALTER USER miriam CREATEUSER CREATEDB;
Place a user in two groups
ALTER USER miriam IN GROUP sales, payroll;
Compatibility
1998-09-08
SQL92
There is no ALTER USER statement in
SQL92.
The standard leaves
the definition of users to the implementation.