ALTER SEQUENCE
ALTER SEQUENCE — change the definition of a sequence generator
Synopsis
ALTER SEQUENCE [ IF EXISTS ] name
[ AS data_type ]
[ INCREMENT [ BY ] increment ]
[ MINVALUE minvalue | NO MINVALUE ] [ MAXVALUE maxvalue | NO MAXVALUE ]
[ START [ WITH ] start ]
[ RESTART [ [ WITH ] restart ] ]
[ CACHE cache ]
[ OWNED BY { table_name.column_name | NONE } ]
ALTER SEQUENCE [ IF EXISTS ] name OWNER TO { new_owner | CURRENT_ROLE | CURRENT_USER | SESSION_USER }
ALTER SEQUENCE [ IF EXISTS ] name RENAME TO new_name
ALTER SEQUENCE [ IF EXISTS ] name SET SCHEMA new_schema
Description
ALTER SEQUENCE
changes the parameters of an existing sequence generator. Any parameters not specifically set in the ALTER SEQUENCE
command retain their prior settings.
You must own the sequence to use ALTER SEQUENCE
. To change a sequence's schema, 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 sequence's schema. (These restrictions enforce that altering the owner doesn't do anything you couldn't do by dropping and recreating the sequence. However, a superuser can alter ownership of any sequence anyway.)
Parameters
name
The name (optionally schema-qualified) of a sequence to be altered.
IF EXISTS
Do not throw an error if the sequence does not exist. A notice is issued in this case.
data_type
The optional clause
AS `data_type`
changes the data type of the sequence. Valid types aresmallint
,integer
, andbigint
.Changing the data type automatically changes the minimum and maximum values of the sequence if and only if the previous minimum and maximum values were the minimum or maximum value of the old data type (in other words, if the sequence had been created using
NO MINVALUE
orNO MAXVALUE
, implicitly or explicitly). Otherwise, the minimum and maximum values are preserved, unless new values are given as part of the same command. If the minimum and maximum values do not fit into the new data type, an error will be generated.increment
The clause
INCREMENT BY `increment`
is optional. A positive value will make an ascending sequence, a negative one a descending sequence. If unspecified, the old increment value will be maintained.minvalue
NO MINVALUE
The optional clause
MINVALUE `minvalue`
determines the minimum value a sequence can generate. IfNO MINVALUE
is specified, the defaults of 1 and the minimum value of the data type for ascending and descending sequences, respectively, will be used. If neither option is specified, the current minimum value will be maintained.maxvalue
NO MAXVALUE
The optional clause
MAXVALUE `maxvalue`
determines the maximum value for the sequence. IfNO MAXVALUE
is specified, the defaults of the maximum value of the data type and -1 for ascending and descending sequences, respectively, will be used. If neither option is specified, the current maximum value will be maintained.start
The optional clause
START WITH `start`
changes the recorded start value of the sequence. This has no effect on the current sequence value; it simply sets the value that futureALTER SEQUENCE RESTART
commands will use.restart
The optional clause
RESTART [ WITH `restart` ]
changes the current value of the sequence. This is similar to calling thesetval
function withis_called
=false
: the specified value will be returned by the next call ofnextval
. WritingRESTART
with norestart
value is equivalent to supplying the start value that was recorded byCREATE SEQUENCE
or last set byALTER SEQUENCE START WITH
.In contrast to a
setval
call, aRESTART
operation on a sequence is transactional and blocks concurrent transactions from obtaining numbers from the same sequence. If that's not the desired mode of operation,setval
should be used.cache
The clause
CACHE `cache`
enables sequence numbers to be preallocated and stored in memory for faster access. The minimum value is 1 (only one value can be generated at a time, i.e., no cache). If unspecified, the old cache value will be maintained.OWNED BY
table_name
.column_name
OWNED BY NONE
The
OWNED BY
option causes the sequence to be associated with a specific table column, such that if that column (or its whole table) is dropped, the sequence will be automatically dropped as well. If specified, this association replaces any previously specified association for the sequence. The specified table must have the same owner and be in the same schema as the sequence. SpecifyingOWNED BY NONE
removes any existing association, making the sequence “free-standing”.new_owner
The user name of the new owner of the sequence.
new_name
The new name for the sequence.
new_schema
The new schema for the sequence.
Notes
ALTER SEQUENCE
will not immediately affect nextval
results in backends, other than the current one, that have preallocated (cached) sequence values. They will use up all cached values prior to noticing the changed sequence generation parameters. The current backend will be affected immediately.
ALTER SEQUENCE
does not affect the currval
status for the sequence. (Before ProtonBase 8.3, it sometimes did.)
ALTER SEQUENCE
blocks concurrent nextval
, currval
, lastval
, and setval
calls.
For historical reasons, ALTER TABLE
can be used with sequences too; but the only variants of ALTER TABLE
that are allowed with sequences are equivalent to the forms shown above.
Compatibility
ALTER SEQUENCE
conforms to the SQL standard, except for the AS
, START WITH
, OWNED BY
, OWNER TO
, RENAME TO
, and SET SCHEMA
clauses, which are ProtonBase extensions.