ALTER USER SQL - Language Statements ALTER USER Modifies user account information 1999-07-20 ALTER USER username [ WITH [ SYSID uid ] [ PASSWORD password ] ] [ CREATEDB | NOCREATEDB ] [ CREATEUSER | NOCREATEUSER ] [ IN GROUP groupname [, ...] ] [ VALID UNTIL 'abstime' ] 1998-09-08 Inputs 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. uid The new PostgreSQL user id of the user. Since this number is used as a key into the pg_shadow/pg_user table throughout the system catalogs, it is not recommended that you change it unless the user in question does not own anything at all and/or you really know what you are doing. Note that it is not necessary that database and UNIX user ids match, but some people choose to keep the numbers the same. 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. 1998-09-08 Outputs 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. 1998-09-08 Description ALTER USER is used to change the attributes of a user's Postgres account. 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. 1998-09-08 Notes ALTER USER is a Postgres language extension. Refer to CREATE/DROP USER to create or remove a user account. The IN GROUP clause is not yet implemented. 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 1998-09-08 SQL92 There is no ALTER USER statement in SQL92. The standard leaves the definition of users to the implementation.