Index Index for
Section USER
Index Alphabetical
listing for A
Bottom of page Bottom of
page

ALTER

NAME

ALTER USER - change a database user account

SYNOPSIS

ALTER USER username [ [ WITH ] option [ ... ] ] where option can be: [ ENCRYPTED | UNENCRYPTED ] PASSWORD 'password' | CREATEDB | NOCREATEDB | CREATEUSER | NOCREATEUSER | VALID UNTIL 'abstime' INPUTS username The name of the user whose details are to be altered. password The new password to be used for this account. ENCRYPTED UNENCRYPTED These keywords control whether the password is stored encrypted in pg_shadow. (See CREATE USER [create_user(5)] for more information about this choice.) CREATEDB NOCREATEDB These clauses define a user's ability to create databases. If CREATEDB is specified, the user being defined will be allowed to create his own databases. Using NOCREATEDB will deny a user the ability to create databases. CREATEUSER NOCREATEUSER These clauses determine whether a user will be permitted to create new users himself. This option will also make the user a superuser who can override all access restrictions. abstime The date (and, optionally, the time) at which this user's password is to expire. OUTPUTS ALTER USER Message returned if the alteration was successful. ERROR: ALTER USER: user "username" does not exist Error message returned if the specified user is not known to the database.

DESCRIPTION

ALTER USER is used to change the attributes of a user's PostgreSQL account. Attributes not mentioned in the command retain their previous settings. Only a database superuser can change privileges and password expiration with this command. Ordinary users can only change their own password. ALTER USER cannot change a user's group memberships. Use ALTER GROUP [alter_group(5)] to do that. Use CREATE USER [create_user(5)] to create a new user and DROP USER [drop_user(5)] to remove a user.

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 authorization 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;

COMPATIBILITY

SQL92 There is no ALTER USER statement in SQL92. The standard leaves the definition of users to the implementation.

Index Index for
Section USER
Index Alphabetical
listing for A
Top of page Top of
page