NAME

       ALTER_OPERATOR_FAMILY - change the definition of an operator family

SYNOPSIS

       ALTER OPERATOR FAMILY name USING index_method ADD
         {  OPERATOR strategy_number operator_name ( op_type, op_type )
                     [ FOR SEARCH | FOR ORDER BY sort_family_name ]
          | FUNCTION support_number [ ( op_type [ , op_type ] ) ]
                     function_name [ ( argument_type [, ...] ) ]
         } [, ... ]

       ALTER OPERATOR FAMILY name USING index_method DROP
         {  OPERATOR strategy_number ( op_type [ , op_type ] )
          | FUNCTION support_number ( op_type [ , op_type ] )
         } [, ... ]

       ALTER OPERATOR FAMILY name USING index_method
           RENAME TO new_name

       ALTER OPERATOR FAMILY name USING index_method
           OWNER TO { new_owner | CURRENT_USER | SESSION_USER }

       ALTER OPERATOR FAMILY name USING index_method
           SET SCHEMA new_schema

DESCRIPTION

       ALTER OPERATOR FAMILY changes the definition of an operator family. You can add operators
       and support functions to the family, remove them from the family, or change the family's
       name or owner.

       When operators and support functions are added to a family with ALTER OPERATOR FAMILY,
       they are not part of any specific operator class within the family, but are just “loose”
       within the family. This indicates that these operators and functions are compatible with
       the family's semantics, but are not required for correct functioning of any specific
       index. (Operators and functions that are so required should be declared as part of an
       operator class, instead; see CREATE OPERATOR CLASS (CREATE_OPERATOR_CLASS(7)).)
       PostgreSQL will allow loose members of a family to be dropped from the family at any time,
       but members of an operator class cannot be dropped without dropping the whole class and
       any indexes that depend on it. Typically, single-data-type operators and functions are
       part of operator classes because they are needed to support an index on that specific data
       type, while cross-data-type operators and functions are made loose members of the family.

       You must be a superuser to use ALTER OPERATOR FAMILY. (This restriction is made because an
       erroneous operator family definition could confuse or even crash the server.)

       ALTER OPERATOR FAMILY does not presently check whether the operator family definition
       includes all the operators and functions required by the index method, nor whether the
       operators and functions form a self-consistent set. It is the user's responsibility to
       define a valid operator family.

       Refer to Section 37.14 for further information.

PARAMETERS

       name
           The name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing operator family.

       index_method
           The name of the index method this operator family is for.

       strategy_number
           The index method's strategy number for an operator associated with the operator
           family.

       operator_name
           The name (optionally schema-qualified) of an operator associated with the operator
           family.

       op_type
           In an OPERATOR clause, the operand data type(s) of the operator, or NONE to signify a
           left-unary or right-unary operator. Unlike the comparable syntax in CREATE OPERATOR
           CLASS, the operand data types must always be specified.

           In an ADD FUNCTION clause, the operand data type(s) the function is intended to
           support, if different from the input data type(s) of the function. For B-tree
           comparison functions and hash functions it is not necessary to specify op_type since
           the function's input data type(s) are always the correct ones to use. For B-tree sort
           support functions and all functions in GiST, SP-GiST and GIN operator classes, it is
           necessary to specify the operand data type(s) the function is to be used with.

           In a DROP FUNCTION clause, the operand data type(s) the function is intended to
           support must be specified.

       sort_family_name
           The name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing btree operator family that
           describes the sort ordering associated with an ordering operator.

           If neither FOR SEARCH nor FOR ORDER BY is specified, FOR SEARCH is the default.

       support_number
           The index method's support procedure number for a function associated with the
           operator family.

       function_name
           The name (optionally schema-qualified) of a function that is an index method support
           procedure for the operator family. If no argument list is specified, the name must be
           unique in its schema.

       argument_type
           The parameter data type(s) of the function.

       new_name
           The new name of the operator family.

       new_owner
           The new owner of the operator family.

       new_schema
           The new schema for the operator family.

       The OPERATOR and FUNCTION clauses can appear in any order.

NOTES

       Notice that the DROP syntax only specifies the “slot” in the operator family, by strategy
       or support number and input data type(s). The name of the operator or function occupying
       the slot is not mentioned. Also, for DROP FUNCTION the type(s) to specify are the input
       data type(s) the function is intended to support; for GiST, SP-GiST and GIN indexes this
       might have nothing to do with the actual input argument types of the function.

       Because the index machinery does not check access permissions on functions before using
       them, including a function or operator in an operator family is tantamount to granting
       public execute permission on it. This is usually not an issue for the sorts of functions
       that are useful in an operator family.

       The operators should not be defined by SQL functions. A SQL function is likely to be
       inlined into the calling query, which will prevent the optimizer from recognizing that the
       query matches an index.

       Before PostgreSQL 8.4, the OPERATOR clause could include a RECHECK option. This is no
       longer supported because whether an index operator is “lossy” is now determined on-the-fly
       at run time. This allows efficient handling of cases where an operator might or might not
       be lossy.

EXAMPLES

       The following example command adds cross-data-type operators and support functions to an
       operator family that already contains B-tree operator classes for data types int4 and
       int2.

           ALTER OPERATOR FAMILY integer_ops USING btree ADD

             -- int4 vs int2
             OPERATOR 1 < (int4, int2) ,
             OPERATOR 2 <= (int4, int2) ,
             OPERATOR 3 = (int4, int2) ,
             OPERATOR 4 >= (int4, int2) ,
             OPERATOR 5 > (int4, int2) ,
             FUNCTION 1 btint42cmp(int4, int2) ,

             -- int2 vs int4
             OPERATOR 1 < (int2, int4) ,
             OPERATOR 2 <= (int2, int4) ,
             OPERATOR 3 = (int2, int4) ,
             OPERATOR 4 >= (int2, int4) ,
             OPERATOR 5 > (int2, int4) ,
             FUNCTION 1 btint24cmp(int2, int4) ;

       To remove these entries again:

           ALTER OPERATOR FAMILY integer_ops USING btree DROP

             -- int4 vs int2
             OPERATOR 1 (int4, int2) ,
             OPERATOR 2 (int4, int2) ,
             OPERATOR 3 (int4, int2) ,
             OPERATOR 4 (int4, int2) ,
             OPERATOR 5 (int4, int2) ,
             FUNCTION 1 (int4, int2) ,

             -- int2 vs int4
             OPERATOR 1 (int2, int4) ,
             OPERATOR 2 (int2, int4) ,
             OPERATOR 3 (int2, int4) ,
             OPERATOR 4 (int2, int4) ,
             OPERATOR 5 (int2, int4) ,
             FUNCTION 1 (int2, int4) ;

COMPATIBILITY

       There is no ALTER OPERATOR FAMILY statement in the SQL standard.

SEE ALSO

       CREATE OPERATOR FAMILY (CREATE_OPERATOR_FAMILY(7)), DROP OPERATOR FAMILY
       (DROP_OPERATOR_FAMILY(7)), CREATE OPERATOR CLASS (CREATE_OPERATOR_CLASS(7)), ALTER
       OPERATOR CLASS (ALTER_OPERATOR_CLASS(7)), DROP OPERATOR CLASS (DROP_OPERATOR_CLASS(7))