---
title: "ALTER AGGREGATE"
id: sql-alteraggregate
pg_version: "20devel"
---

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# ALTER AGGREGATE — change the definition of an aggregate function

## Synopsis

```
ALTER AGGREGATE name ( aggregate_signature ) RENAME TO new_name
ALTER AGGREGATE name ( aggregate_signature )
                OWNER TO { new_owner | CURRENT_ROLE | CURRENT_USER | SESSION_USER }
ALTER AGGREGATE name ( aggregate_signature ) SET SCHEMA new_schema

where aggregate_signature is:

* |
[ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [ , ... ] |
[ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [ , ... ] ] ORDER BY [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [ , ... ]
```

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## Description

`ALTER AGGREGATE` changes the definition of an aggregate function. 

You must own the aggregate function to use `ALTER AGGREGATE`. To change the schema of an aggregate function, you must also have `CREATE` privilege on the new schema. To alter the owner, you must be able to `SET ROLE` to the new owning role, and that role must have `CREATE` privilege on the aggregate function's schema. (These restrictions enforce that altering the owner doesn't do anything you couldn't do by dropping and recreating the aggregate function. However, a superuser can alter ownership of any aggregate function anyway.) 

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## Parameters

**`name`**

 The name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing aggregate function. **`argmode`**

 The mode of an argument: `IN` or `VARIADIC`. If omitted, the default is `IN`. **`argname`**

 The name of an argument. Note that `ALTER AGGREGATE` does not actually pay any attention to argument names, since only the argument data types are needed to determine the aggregate function's identity. **`argtype`**

 An input data type on which the aggregate function operates. To reference a zero-argument aggregate function, write `*` in place of the list of argument specifications. To reference an ordered-set aggregate function, write `ORDER BY` between the direct and aggregated argument specifications. **`new_name`**

 The new name of the aggregate function. **`new_owner`**

 The new owner of the aggregate function. **`new_schema`**

 The new schema for the aggregate function. <a id="id-1.9.3.4.7"></a>

## Notes

The recommended syntax for referencing an ordered-set aggregate is to write `ORDER BY` between the direct and aggregated argument specifications, in the same style as in [`CREATE AGGREGATE`](sql-createaggregate.md). However, it will also work to omit `ORDER BY` and just run the direct and aggregated argument specifications into a single list. In this abbreviated form, if `VARIADIC "any"` was used in both the direct and aggregated argument lists, write `VARIADIC "any"` only once. 

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## Examples

To rename the aggregate function `myavg` for type `integer` to `my_average`: 
ALTER AGGREGATE myavg(integer) RENAME TO my_average;
 

To change the owner of the aggregate function `myavg` for type `integer` to `joe`: 
ALTER AGGREGATE myavg(integer) OWNER TO joe;
 

To move the ordered-set aggregate `mypercentile` with direct argument of type `float8` and aggregated argument of type `integer` into schema `myschema`: 
ALTER AGGREGATE mypercentile(float8 ORDER BY integer) SET SCHEMA myschema;
 This will work too: 
ALTER AGGREGATE mypercentile(float8, integer) SET SCHEMA myschema;


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## Compatibility

There is no `ALTER AGGREGATE` statement in the SQL standard. 

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## See Also

[CREATE AGGREGATE](sql-createaggregate.md), [DROP AGGREGATE](sql-dropaggregate.md)