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doc/src/sgml/ref/revoke.sgml
PostgreSQL documentation
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<refentry id="sql-revoke">
 <indexterm zone="sql-revoke">
  <primary>REVOKE</primary>
 </indexterm>

 <refmeta>
  <refentrytitle>REVOKE</refentrytitle>
  <manvolnum>7</manvolnum>
  <refmiscinfo>SQL - Language Statements</refmiscinfo>
 </refmeta>

 <refnamediv>
  <refname>REVOKE</refname>
  <refpurpose>remove access privileges</refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>

 <refsynopsisdiv>
<synopsis>
REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { { SELECT | INSERT | UPDATE | DELETE | TRUNCATE | REFERENCES | TRIGGER }
    [, ...] | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON { [ TABLE ] <replaceable class="parameter">table_name</replaceable> [, ...]
         | ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA <replaceable>schema_name</replaceable> [, ...] }
    FROM <replaceable class="parameter">role_specification</replaceable> [, ...]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { { SELECT | INSERT | UPDATE | REFERENCES } ( <replaceable class="parameter">column_name</replaceable> [, ...] )
    [, ...] | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] ( <replaceable class="parameter">column_name</replaceable> [, ...] ) }
    ON [ TABLE ] <replaceable class="parameter">table_name</replaceable> [, ...]
    FROM <replaceable class="parameter">role_specification</replaceable> [, ...]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { { USAGE | SELECT | UPDATE }
    [, ...] | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON { SEQUENCE <replaceable class="parameter">sequence_name</replaceable> [, ...]
         | ALL SEQUENCES IN SCHEMA <replaceable>schema_name</replaceable> [, ...] }
    FROM <replaceable class="parameter">role_specification</replaceable> [, ...]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { { CREATE | CONNECT | TEMPORARY | TEMP } [, ...] | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON DATABASE <replaceable>database_name</replaceable> [, ...]
    FROM <replaceable class="parameter">role_specification</replaceable> [, ...]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { USAGE | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON DOMAIN <replaceable>domain_name</replaceable> [, ...]
    FROM <replaceable class="parameter">role_specification</replaceable> [, ...]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { USAGE | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER <replaceable>fdw_name</replaceable> [, ...]
    FROM <replaceable class="parameter">role_specification</replaceable> [, ...]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { USAGE | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON FOREIGN SERVER <replaceable>server_name</replaceable> [, ...]
    FROM <replaceable class="parameter">role_specification</replaceable> [, ...]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { EXECUTE | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON { { FUNCTION | PROCEDURE | ROUTINE } <replaceable>function_name</replaceable> [ ( [ [ <replaceable class="parameter">argmode</replaceable> ] [ <replaceable class="parameter">arg_name</replaceable> ] <replaceable class="parameter">arg_type</replaceable> [, ...] ] ) ] [, ...]
         | ALL { FUNCTIONS | PROCEDURES | ROUTINES } IN SCHEMA <replaceable>schema_name</replaceable> [, ...] }
    FROM <replaceable class="parameter">role_specification</replaceable> [, ...]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { USAGE | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON LANGUAGE <replaceable>lang_name</replaceable> [, ...]
    FROM <replaceable class="parameter">role_specification</replaceable> [, ...]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { { SELECT | UPDATE } [, ...] | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON LARGE OBJECT <replaceable class="parameter">loid</replaceable> [, ...]
    FROM <replaceable class="parameter">role_specification</replaceable> [, ...]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { { CREATE | USAGE } [, ...] | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON SCHEMA <replaceable>schema_name</replaceable> [, ...]
    FROM <replaceable class="parameter">role_specification</replaceable> [, ...]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { CREATE | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON TABLESPACE <replaceable>tablespace_name</replaceable> [, ...]
    FROM <replaceable class="parameter">role_specification</replaceable> [, ...]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { USAGE | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON TYPE <replaceable>type_name</replaceable> [, ...]
    FROM <replaceable class="parameter">role_specification</replaceable> [, ...]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ ADMIN OPTION FOR ]
    <replaceable class="parameter">role_name</replaceable> [, ...] FROM <replaceable class="parameter">role_specification</replaceable> [, ...]
    [ GRANTED BY <replaceable class="parameter">role_specification</replaceable> ]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

<phrase>where <replaceable class="parameter">role_specification</replaceable> can be:</phrase>

    [ GROUP ] <replaceable class="parameter">role_name</replaceable>
  | PUBLIC
  | CURRENT_ROLE
  | CURRENT_USER
  | SESSION_USER
</synopsis>
 </refsynopsisdiv>

 <refsect1 id="sql-revoke-description">
  <title>Description</title>

  <para>
   The <command>REVOKE</command> command revokes previously granted
   privileges from one or more roles.  The key word
   <literal>PUBLIC</literal> refers to the implicitly defined group of
   all roles.
  </para>

  <para>
   See the description of the <xref linkend="sql-grant"/> command for
   the meaning of the privilege types.
  </para>

  <para>
   Note that any particular role will have the sum
   of privileges granted directly to it, privileges granted to any role it
   is presently a member of, and privileges granted to
   <literal>PUBLIC</literal>.  Thus, for example, revoking <literal>SELECT</literal> privilege
   from <literal>PUBLIC</literal> does not necessarily mean that all roles
   have lost <literal>SELECT</literal> privilege on the object: those who have it granted
   directly or via another role will still have it.  Similarly, revoking
   <literal>SELECT</literal> from a user might not prevent that user from using
   <literal>SELECT</literal> if <literal>PUBLIC</literal> or another membership
   role still has <literal>SELECT</literal> rights.
  </para>

  <para>
   If <literal>GRANT OPTION FOR</literal> is specified, only the grant
   option for the privilege is revoked, not the privilege itself.
   Otherwise, both the privilege and the grant option are revoked.
  </para>

  <para>
   If a user holds a privilege with grant option and has granted it to
   other users then the privileges held by those other users are
   called dependent privileges. If the privilege or the grant option
   held by the first user is being revoked and dependent privileges
   exist, those dependent privileges are also revoked if
   <literal>CASCADE</literal> is specified; if it is not, the revoke action
   will fail.  This recursive revocation only affects privileges that
   were granted through a chain of users that is traceable to the user
   that is the subject of this <literal>REVOKE</literal> command.
   Thus, the affected users might effectively keep the privilege if it
   was also granted through other users.
  </para>

  <para>
   When revoking privileges on a table, the corresponding column privileges
   (if any) are automatically revoked on each column of the table, as well.
   On the other hand, if a role has been granted privileges on a table, then
   revoking the same privileges from individual columns will have no effect.
  </para>

  <para>
   When revoking membership in a role, <literal>GRANT OPTION</literal> is instead
   called <literal>ADMIN OPTION</literal>, but the behavior is similar.
   This form of the command also allows a <literal>GRANTED BY</literal>
   option, but that option is currently ignored (except for checking
   the existence of the named role).
   Note also that this form of the command does not
   allow the noise word <literal>GROUP</literal>
   in <replaceable class="parameter">role_specification</replaceable>.
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 id="sql-revoke-notes">
  <title>Notes</title>

  <para>
   A user can only revoke privileges that were granted directly by
   that user.  If, for example, user A has granted a privilege with
   grant option to user B, and user B has in turn granted it to user
   C, then user A cannot revoke the privilege directly from C.
   Instead, user A could revoke the grant option from user B and use
   the <literal>CASCADE</literal> option so that the privilege is
   in turn revoked from user C.  For another example, if both A and B
   have granted the same privilege to C, A can revoke their own grant
   but not B's grant, so C will still effectively have the privilege.
  </para>

   <para>
    When a non-owner of an object attempts to <command>REVOKE</command> privileges
    on the object, the command will fail outright if the user has no
    privileges whatsoever on the object.  As long as some privilege is
    available, the command will proceed, but it will revoke only those
    privileges for which the user has grant options.  The <command>REVOKE ALL
    PRIVILEGES</command> forms will issue a warning message if no grant options are
    held, while the other forms will issue a warning if grant options for
    any of the privileges specifically named in the command are not held.
    (In principle these statements apply to the object owner as well, but
    since the owner is always treated as holding all grant options, the
    cases can never occur.)
   </para>

   <para>
    If a superuser chooses to issue a <command>GRANT</command> or <command>REVOKE</command>
    command, the command is performed as though it were issued by the
    owner of the affected object.  Since all privileges ultimately come
    from the object owner (possibly indirectly via chains of grant options),
    it is possible for a superuser to revoke all privileges, but this might
    require use of <literal>CASCADE</literal> as stated above.
   </para>

   <para>
    <command>REVOKE</command> can also be done by a role
    that is not the owner of the affected object, but is a member of the role
    that owns the object, or is a member of a role that holds privileges
    <literal>WITH GRANT OPTION</literal> on the object.  In this case the
    command is performed as though it were issued by the containing role that
    actually owns the object or holds the privileges
    <literal>WITH GRANT OPTION</literal>.  For example, if table
    <literal>t1</literal> is owned by role <literal>g1</literal>, of which role
    <literal>u1</literal> is a member, then <literal>u1</literal> can revoke privileges
    on <literal>t1</literal> that are recorded as being granted by <literal>g1</literal>.
    This would include grants made by <literal>u1</literal> as well as by other
    members of role <literal>g1</literal>.
   </para>

   <para>
    If the role executing <command>REVOKE</command> holds privileges
    indirectly via more than one role membership path, it is unspecified
    which containing role will be used to perform the command.  In such cases
    it is best practice to use <command>SET ROLE</command> to become the specific
    role you want to do the <command>REVOKE</command> as.  Failure to do so might
    lead to revoking privileges other than the ones you intended, or not
    revoking anything at all.
   </para>

   <para>
    See <xref linkend="ddl-priv"/> for more information about specific
    privilege types, as well as how to inspect objects' privileges.
   </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 id="sql-revoke-examples">
  <title>Examples</title>

  <para>
   Revoke insert privilege for the public on table
   <literal>films</literal>:

<programlisting>
REVOKE INSERT ON films FROM PUBLIC;
</programlisting>
  </para>

  <para>
   Revoke all privileges from user <literal>manuel</literal> on view
   <literal>kinds</literal>:

<programlisting>
REVOKE ALL PRIVILEGES ON kinds FROM manuel;
</programlisting>

   Note that this actually means <quote>revoke all privileges that I
   granted</quote>.
  </para>

  <para>
   Revoke membership in role <literal>admins</literal> from user <literal>joe</literal>:

<programlisting>
REVOKE admins FROM joe;
</programlisting></para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 id="sql-revoke-compatibility">
  <title>Compatibility</title>

   <para>
    The compatibility notes of the <xref linkend="sql-grant"/> command
    apply analogously to <command>REVOKE</command>.
    The keyword <literal>RESTRICT</literal> or <literal>CASCADE</literal>
    is required according to the standard, but <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
    assumes <literal>RESTRICT</literal> by default.
   </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1>
  <title>See Also</title>

  <simplelist type="inline">
   <member><xref linkend="sql-grant"/></member>
   <member><xref linkend="sql-alterdefaultprivileges"/></member>
  </simplelist>
 </refsect1>

</refentry>
