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ALTER_USER (l)

Modifies user account information

SYNOPSIS

    ALTER USER username [ WITH PASSWORD password ]
        [ CREATEDB | NOCREATEDB ] [ CREATEUSER | NOCREATEUSER ]
        [ IN GROUP groupname [, ...] ]
        [ VALID UNTIL 'abstime' ]
    

    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.

    ALTER USER

      Message returned if the alteration was successful.

    ERROR: alterUser: 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 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.

    ALTER USER 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

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