#12884·neon

Documentation issue: Incorrect ALTER TABLE ... ALTER COLUMN syntax in PostgreSQL cheat sheet

Author: sanal2206Created Apr 25, 2026Updated Aug 4, 2026

Description

There is an issue in the PostgreSQL cheat sheet under the section:

"Set or remove a default value for a column:"

Page

https://neon.com/postgresql/cheat-sheet

Current documentation

ALTER TABLE table_name ALTER COLUMN [SET DEFAULT value | DROP DEFAULT]

Issue

The syntax is missing the required column_name.

In PostgreSQL, ALTER COLUMN must always be followed by a column name. The current documentation may mislead users into writing invalid SQL queries.

Correct syntax

ALTER TABLE table_name ALTER COLUMN column_name SET DEFAULT value;

ALTER TABLE table_name ALTER COLUMN column_name DROP DEFAULT;

Impact

This can lead to syntax errors for users, especially beginners learning PostgreSQL.

Suggestion

Update the syntax under "Set or remove a default value for a column:" to include column_name after ALTER COLUMN.

Additional context

Screenshot attached for reference.

Image