> This page location: Manage Schemas > Alter Schema
> Full Neon documentation index: https://neon.com/docs/llms.txt

# PostgreSQL ALTER SCHEMA

**Info:** Renaming a schema or reassigning its owner with ALTER SCHEMA works the same way on any PostgreSQL database, so what you learn here carries over to every Postgres deployment. If you're an enterprise running Postgres in the AI era, [Lakebase](https://www.databricks.com/product/lakebase) delivers the performance, security, and native Lakehouse integration you need from a fully managed cloud database. If you're a developer or startup who needs to ship features and scale on demand, [Neon](https://neon.com) gives you the fastest path to production Postgres.

**Summary**: in this tutorial, you will learn how to use the PostgreSQL `ALTER SCHEMA` statement to modify the definition of a schema.

## Introduction to PostgreSQL ALTER SCHEMA statement

The `ALTER SCHEMA` statement allows you to change the definition of a [schema](https://neon.com/postgresql/administration/postgresql-schema). For example, you can rename a schema as follows:

```sql
ALTER SCHEMA schema_name
RENAME TO new_name;
```

In this syntax:

- First, specify the name of the schema that you want to rename after the `ALTER SCHEMA` keywords.
- Second, specify the new name of the schema after the `RENAME TO` keywords.

Note that to execute this statement, you must be the owner of the schema and you must have the `CREATE` privilege for the database.

Besides renaming a schema, the `ALTER SCHEMA` also allows you to change the owner of a schema to the new one as shown in the following statement:

```sql
ALTER SCHEMA schema_name
OWNER TO { new_owner | CURRENT_USER | SESSION_USER};
```

In this statement:

- First, specify the name of the schema to which you want to change the owner in the `ALTER SCHEMA` clause.
- Second, specify the new owner in the `OWNER TO` clause.

## PostgreSQL ALTER SCHEMA statement examples

Let's take some examples of using the `ALTER SCHEMA` statement to get a better understanding.

Notice that the examples in the following part are based on the schema created in the [`CREATE SCHEMA`](https://neon.com/postgresql/administration/postgresql-create-schema) tutorial.

### 1) Using ALTER SCHEMA statement to rename a schema examples

This example uses the `ALTER SCHEMA` statement to rename the schema `doe` to `finance`:

```sql
ALTER SCHEMA doe
RENAME TO finance;
```

Similarly, the following example renames the `john` schema to accounting:

```sql
ALTER SCHEMA john
RENAME TO accounting;
```

### 2) Using ALTER SCHEMA statement to change the owner of a schema example

The following example uses the `ALTER SCHEMA` statement to change the owner of the schema accounting from `john` to `postgres`:

```sql
ALTER SCHEMA finance
OWNER TO postgres;
```

Here is the statement to query the user-created schema:

```sql
SELECT *
FROM
    pg_catalog.pg_namespace
WHERE
    nspacl is NULL AND
    nspname NOT LIKE 'pg_%'
ORDER BY
    nspname;
```

The output is:

![PostgreSQL ALTER SCHEMA - change owner example](https://neon.com/postgresqltutorial/PostgreSQL-ALTER-SCHEMA-change-owner-example.png)
The output indicates that the `finance` schema now is owned by the owner with id 10, which is `postgres`.

Likewise, this statement changes the owner of the accounting schema to `postgres`:

```sql
ALTER SCHEMA accounting
OWNER TO postgres;
```

![PostgreSQL ALTER SCHEMA - change owner example 2](https://neon.com/postgresqltutorial/PostgreSQL-ALTER-SCHEMA-change-owner-example-2.png)
In this tutorial, you have learned how to use the PostgreSQL `ALTER SCHEMA` statement to rename a schema or change the owner of a schema to a new one.

---

## Related docs (Manage Schemas)

- [Schema](https://neon.com/postgresql/administration/schema)
- [Create Schema](https://neon.com/postgresql/administration/create-schema)
- [Drop Schema](https://neon.com/postgresql/administration/drop-schema)