man > ALTER_OPERATOR_FAMILY(7)

ALTER OPERATOR FAMILY(7)           PostgreSQL 16.14 Documentation           ALTER OPERATOR FAMILY(7)

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_ROLE | 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 38.16 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
           prefix 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, B-Tree
           equal image 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 function 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
           function 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. An 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))

PostgreSQL 16.14                                2026                        ALTER OPERATOR FAMILY(7)