<literal>CONCURRENTLY</literal> is specified, it runs using a reduced
lock level to avoid blocking other sessions that might be accessing the
partitioned table. In this mode, two transactions are used internally.
During the first transaction, a <literal>SHARE UPDATE EXCLUSIVE</literal>
lock is taken on both parent table and partition, and the partition is
marked as undergoing detach; at that point, the transaction is committed
and all other transactions using the partitioned table are waited for.
Once all those transactions have completed, the second transaction
acquires <literal>SHARE UPDATE EXCLUSIVE</literal> on the partitioned
table and <literal>ACCESS EXCLUSIVE</literal> on the partition,
and the detach process completes. A <literal>CHECK</literal> constraint
that duplicates the partition constraint is added to the partition.
<literal>CONCURRENTLY</literal> cannot be run in a transaction block and
is not allowed if the partitioned table contains a default partition.
</para>
<para>
If <literal>FINALIZE</literal> is specified, a previous
<literal>DETACH CONCURRENTLY</literal> invocation that was canceled or
interrupted is completed.
At most one partition in a partitioned table can be pending detach at
a time.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>
<para>
All the forms of <command>ALTER TABLE</command> that act on a single table,
except <literal>RENAME</literal>, <literal>SET SCHEMA</literal>,
<literal>ATTACH PARTITION</literal>, and
<literal>DETACH PARTITION</literal> can be combined into
a list of multiple alterations to be applied together. For example, it
is possible to add several columns and/or alter the type of several
columns in a single command. This is particularly useful with large
tables, since only one pass over the table need be made.
</para>
<para>
You must own the table to use <command>ALTER TABLE</command>.
To change the schema or tablespace of a table, you must also have
<literal>CREATE</literal> privilege on the new schema or tablespace.
To add the table as a new child of a parent table, you must own the parent
table as well. Also, to attach a table as a new partition of the table,
you must own the table being attached.
To alter the owner, you must be able to <literal>SET ROLE</literal> to the
new owning role, and that role must have <literal>CREATE</literal>
privilege on the table's schema.
(These restrictions enforce that altering the owner
doesn't do anything you couldn't do by dropping and recreating the table.
However, a superuser can alter ownership of any table anyway.)
To add a column or alter a column type or use the <literal>OF</literal>
clause, you must also have <literal>USAGE</literal> privilege on the data
type.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Parameters</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry id="sql-altertable-parms-if-exists">
<term><literal>IF EXISTS</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Do not throw an error if the table does not exist. A notice is issued
in this case.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry id="sql-altertable-parms-name">
<term><replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
The name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing table to
alter. If <literal>ONLY</literal> is specified before the table name, only
that table is altered. If <literal>ONLY</literal> is not specified, the table
and all its descendant tables (if any) are altered. Optionally,
<literal>*</literal> can be specified after the table name to explicitly
indicate that descendant tables are included.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry id="sql-altertable-parms-column-name">