ALTER INDEX SQL - Language Statements ALTER INDEX change the definition of an index ALTER INDEX ALTER INDEX name RENAME TO new_name ALTER INDEX name SET TABLESPACE tablespace_name ALTER INDEX changes the definition of an existing index. There are several subforms: RENAME The RENAME form changes the name of the index. There is no effect on the stored data. SET TABLESPACE This form changes the index's tablespace to the specified tablespace and moves the data file(s) associated with the index to the new tablespace. See also . name The name (possibly schema-qualified) of an existing index to alter. new_name New name for the index. tablespace_name The tablespace to which the index will be moved. These operations are also possible using . ALTER INDEX is in fact just an alias for the forms of ALTER TABLE that apply to indexes. There was formerly an ALTER INDEX OWNER variant, but this is now ignored (with a warning). An index cannot have an owner different from its table's owner. Changing the table's owner automatically changes the index as well. Changing any part of a system catalog index is not permitted. To rename an existing index: ALTER INDEX distributors RENAME TO suppliers; To move an index to a different tablespace: ALTER INDEX distributors SET TABLESPACE fasttablespace; ALTER INDEX is a PostgreSQL extension.