---
title: "ALTER ROUTINE"
id: sql-alterroutine
pg_version: "20devel"
---

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# ALTER ROUTINE — change the definition of a routine

## Synopsis

```
ALTER ROUTINE name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ]
    action [ ... ] [ RESTRICT ]
ALTER ROUTINE name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ]
    RENAME TO new_name
ALTER ROUTINE name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ]
    OWNER TO { new_owner | CURRENT_ROLE | CURRENT_USER | SESSION_USER }
ALTER ROUTINE name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ]
    SET SCHEMA new_schema
ALTER ROUTINE name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [, ...] ] ) ]
    [ NO ] DEPENDS ON EXTENSION extension_name

where action is one of:

    IMMUTABLE | STABLE | VOLATILE
    [ NOT ] LEAKPROOF
    [ EXTERNAL ] SECURITY INVOKER | [ EXTERNAL ] SECURITY DEFINER
    PARALLEL { UNSAFE | RESTRICTED | SAFE }
    COST execution_cost
    ROWS result_rows
    SET configuration_parameter { TO | = } { value | DEFAULT }
    SET configuration_parameter FROM CURRENT
    RESET configuration_parameter
    RESET ALL
```

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## Description

`ALTER ROUTINE` changes the definition of a routine, which can be an aggregate function, a normal function, or a procedure. See under [ALTER AGGREGATE](sql-alteraggregate.md), [ALTER FUNCTION](sql-alterfunction.md), and [ALTER PROCEDURE](sql-alterprocedure.md) for the description of the parameters, more examples, and further details. 

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## Examples

To rename the routine `foo` for type `integer` to `foobar`: 
ALTER ROUTINE foo(integer) RENAME TO foobar;
 This command will work independent of whether `foo` is an aggregate, function, or procedure. 

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## Compatibility

This statement is partially compatible with the `ALTER ROUTINE` statement in the SQL standard. See under [ALTER FUNCTION](sql-alterfunction.md) and [ALTER PROCEDURE](sql-alterprocedure.md) for more details. Allowing routine names to refer to aggregate functions is a PostgreSQL extension. 

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## See Also

[ALTER AGGREGATE](sql-alteraggregate.md), [ALTER FUNCTION](sql-alterfunction.md), [ALTER PROCEDURE](sql-alterprocedure.md), [DROP ROUTINE](sql-droproutine.md)Note that there is no `CREATE ROUTINE` command.