PostgreSQL
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ALTER USER

Name

ALTER USER — Modifies user account information 
ALTER USER username
    [ WITH
     [ SYSID uid ]
     [ PASSWORD password ] ]
    [ CREATEDB | NOCREATEDB ] [ CREATEUSER | NOCREATEUSER ]
    [ IN GROUP groupname [, ...] ]
    [ VALID UNTIL 'abstime' ]

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.

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.

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.

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

SQL92

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

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