ALTER DOMAIN()

NAME
ALTER DOMAIN - change the definition of a domain

SYNOPSIS

ALTER DOMAIN name
    { SET DEFAULT expression | DROP DEFAULT }
ALTER DOMAIN name
    { SET | DROP } NOT NULL
ALTER DOMAIN name
    ADD domain_constraint
ALTER DOMAIN name
    DROP CONSTRAINT constraint_name [ RESTRICT | CASCADE ]
ALTER DOMAIN name
    OWNER TO new_owner

DESCRIPTION

ALTER DOMAIN changes the definition of an existing domain. There are several sub-forms:

SET/DROP DEFAULT
    These forms set or remove the default value for a domain. Note that defaults only apply to subsequent INSERT commands; they do not affect rows already in a table using the domain.

SET/DROP NOT NULL
    These forms change whether a domain is marked to allow NULL values or to reject NULL values. You may only SET NOT NULL when the columns using the domain contain no null values.

ADD domain_constraint
    This form adds a new constraint to a domain using the same syntax as CREATE DOMAIN [create_domain(7)]. This will only succeed if all columns using the domain satisfy the new constraint.

DROP CONSTRAINT
    This form drops constraints on a domain.

OWNER
    This form changes the owner of the domain to the specified user.

You must own the domain to use ALTER DOMAIN; except for ALTER DOMAIN OWNER, which may only be executed by a superuser.

PARAMETERS

name
    The name (possibly schema-qualified) of an existing domain to alter.

domain_constraint
    New domain constraint for the domain.

constraint_name
    Name of an existing constraint to drop.

CASCADE
    Automatically drop objects that depend on the constraint.

RESTRICT
    Refuse to drop the constraint if there are any dependent objects. This is the default behavior.

new_owner
    The user name of the new owner of the domain.

EXAMPLES

To add a NOT NULL constraint to a domain:

ALTER DOMAIN zipcode SET NOT NULL;

To remove a NOT NULL constraint from a domain:

ALTER DOMAIN zipcode DROP NOT NULL;

To add a check constraint to a domain:

ALTER DOMAIN zipcode ADD CONSTRAINT zipchk CHECK (char_length(VALUE) = 5);

To remove a check constraint from a domain:

ALTER DOMAIN zipcode DROP CONSTRAINT zipchk;

COMPATIBILITY

The ALTER DOMAIN statement is compatible with SQL99, except for the OWNER variant, which is a PostgreSQL extension.