---
name: "ALTER_TEXT_SEARCH_DICTIONARY"
section: "7"
platform: "linux"
package: "postgresql"
version: "18.6-4"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/ALTER_TEXT_SEARCH_DICTIONARY"
---

# ALTER\_TEXT\_SEARCH\_DICTIONARY(7)

change the definition of a text search dictionary

## NAME

ALTER\_TEXT\_SEARCH\_DICTIONARY - change the definition of a text search dictionary

## SYNOPSIS

```
ALTER TEXT SEARCH DICTIONARY name (
    option [ = value ] [, ... ]
)
ALTER TEXT SEARCH DICTIONARY name RENAME TO new_name
ALTER TEXT SEARCH DICTIONARY name OWNER TO { new_owner | CURRENT_ROLE | CURRENT_USER | SESSION_USER }
ALTER TEXT SEARCH DICTIONARY name SET SCHEMA new_schema
```

## DESCRIPTION

**ALTER TEXT SEARCH DICTIONARY** changes the definition of a text search dictionary. You can change the dictionary's template-specific options, or change the dictionary's name or owner.

You must be the owner of the dictionary to use **ALTER TEXT SEARCH DICTIONARY**.

## PARAMETERS

*name*

The name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing text search dictionary.

*option*

The name of a template-specific option to be set for this dictionary.

*value*

The new value to use for a template-specific option. If the equal sign and value are omitted, then any previous setting for the option is removed from the dictionary, allowing the default to be used.

*new\_name*

The new name of the text search dictionary.

*new\_owner*

The new owner of the text search dictionary.

*new\_schema*

The new schema for the text search dictionary.

Template-specific options can appear in any order.

## EXAMPLES

The following example command changes the stopword list for a Snowball-based dictionary. Other parameters remain unchanged.

```
ALTER TEXT SEARCH DICTIONARY my_dict ( StopWords = newrussian );
```

The following example command changes the language option to dutch, and removes the stopword option entirely.

```
ALTER TEXT SEARCH DICTIONARY my_dict ( language = dutch, StopWords );
```

The following example command “updates” the dictionary's definition without actually changing anything.

```
ALTER TEXT SEARCH DICTIONARY my_dict ( dummy );
```

(The reason this works is that the option removal code doesn't complain if there is no such option.) This trick is useful when changing configuration files for the dictionary: the **ALTER** will force existing database sessions to re-read the configuration files, which otherwise they would never do if they had read them earlier.

## COMPATIBILITY

There is no **ALTER TEXT SEARCH DICTIONARY** statement in the SQL standard.

## SEE ALSO

CREATE TEXT SEARCH DICTIONARY ([**CREATE\_TEXT\_SEARCH\_DICTIONARY**(7)](/CREATE_TEXT_SEARCH_DICTIONARY/7.md)), DROP TEXT SEARCH DICTIONARY ([**DROP\_TEXT\_SEARCH\_DICTIONARY**(7)](/DROP_TEXT_SEARCH_DICTIONARY/7.md))