/usr/man2/cat.l/alter_index.l.Z

NAME

       ALTER INDEX - change the definition of an index

SYNOPSIS

       ALTER INDEX name RENAME TO new_name
       ALTER INDEX name SET TABLESPACE tablespace_name

DESCRIPTION

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

       RENAME The RENAME form changes the name of  the  index.   There  is  no
              effect on the stored data.

       SET TABLESPACE
              This  form  changes  the  index's  tablespace  to  the specified
              tablespace and moves the data file(s) associated with the  index
              to  the  new  tablespace.   See  also  CREATE  TABLESPACE  [cre-
              ate_tablespace(l)].

PARAMETERS

       name   The name (possibly schema-qualified) of  an  existing  index  to
              alter.

       new_name
              New name for the index.

       tablespace_name
              The tablespace to which the index will be moved.

NOTES

       These  operations are also possible using ALTER TABLE [alter_table(l)].
       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;

COMPATIBILITY

       ALTER INDEX is a PostgreSQL extension.

SQL - Language Statements         2005-11-05                     ALTER INDEX()