ALTER INDEX 7 SQL - Language Statements ALTER INDEX change the definition of an index ALTER INDEX ALTER INDEX [ IF EXISTS ] name RENAME TO new_name ALTER INDEX [ IF EXISTS ] name SET TABLESPACE tablespace_name ALTER INDEX [ IF EXISTS ] name SET ( storage_parameter = value [, ... ] ) ALTER INDEX [ IF EXISTS ] name RESET ( storage_parameter [, ... ] ) ALTER INDEX changes the definition of an existing index. There are several subforms: IF EXISTS Do not throw an error if the index does not exist. A notice is issued in this case. 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 . SET ( storage_parameter = value [, ... ] ) This form changes one or more index-method-specific storage parameters for the index. See for details on the available parameters. Note that the index contents will not be modified immediately by this command; depending on the parameter you might need to rebuild the index with to get the desired effects. RESET ( storage_parameter [, ... ] ) This form resets one or more index-method-specific storage parameters to their defaults. As with SET, a REINDEX might be needed to update the index entirely. name The name (possibly schema-qualified) of an existing index to alter. new_name The new name for the index. tablespace_name The tablespace to which the index will be moved. storage_parameter The name of an index-method-specific storage parameter. value The new value for an index-method-specific storage parameter. This might be a number or a word depending on the parameter. These operations are also possible using . 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. 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; To change an index's fill factor (assuming that the index method supports it): ALTER INDEX distributors SET (fillfactor = 75); REINDEX INDEX distributors; ALTER INDEX is a PostgreSQL extension.