How to Add an Auto-Incrementing Primary Key to an Existing PostgreSQL Table?

Adding an Auto Increment Primary Key in PostgreSQL

Problem Statement:

Unable to add an auto incrementing primary key to an existing table due to a "sequence must have same owner as table" error encountered while creating a column using the BIGSERIAL type.

Solution:

To add an auto increment primary key to an existing table without recreating it, use the following command:

ALTER TABLE your_table ADD COLUMN key_column BIGSERIAL PRIMARY KEY;

Explanation:

The BIGSERIAL type creates a sequence that generates unique, incrementing values for the specified column. The PRIMARY KEY constraint ensures that these values are unique and used to identify each row in the table.

Additional Note:

Ensure that you are using the same database user who created the table to execute the ADD COLUMN command. Otherwise, you may encounter the error mentioned in the question regarding ownership of the sequence.

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