alter_alias()

This operation reassigns the alias of one collection to another.

Request Syntax

alter_alias(
    collection_name: str,
    alias: str,
    using: str,
    timeout: float | None
)

from pymilvus import utility

# Alter collection alias
alter_alias(
    collection_name="string",
    alias="string",
    using="default"
)

PARAMETERS:

• collection_name (str) -

  [REQUIRED]

  The name of the target collection to reassign an alias to.

• alias (str) -

  [REQUIRED]

  The alias of the collection. Note that the alias should exist beforehand.

  what is a collection alias?

  A collection alias is an additional name for a collection. Collection aliases are useful when you want to switch your application to a new collection without any changes to your code.

  In MilvusZilliz Cloud, a collection alias is a globally unique identifier. One alias can only be assigned to exactly one collection. Conversely, a collection can have multiple aliases.

  Below is an example of reassigning the alias of one collection to another:

  Suppose there are two collections: collection_1 and collection_2. There is also a collection alias named bob, which was originally assigned to collection_1:

  • collection_1's alias = [“bob”]

  • collection_2's alias = []

  After calling alter_alias("collection_2", “bob”):

  • collection_1's alias = []

  • collection_2's alias = [“bob”]

• using (str) -

  The alias of the employed connection.

  The default value is default, indicating that this operation employs the default connection.

• timeout (float | None)

  The timeout duration for this operation. Setting this to None indicates that this operation timeouts when any response arrives or any error occurs.

RETURN TYPE:

NoneType

RETURNS:

None

EXCEPTIONS:

• MilvusException

  This exception will be raised when any error occurs during this operation, especially when the specified alias does not exist.

Examples

from pymilvus import connections, Collection, utility

# Connection to localhost:19530
connections.connect()

# Get two existing collections
collection_1 = Collection("collection_1")
collection_2 = Collection("collection_2")

# Create an alias for collection_1
utility.create_alias(collection_name="collection_1", alias="bob")

# List aliases for both collections
utility.list_aliases(collection_name="collection_1") # ['bob']
utility.list_aliases(collection_name="collection_2") # []
        
# Reassigns the alias to collection_2
utility.alter_alias(collection_name="test_collection_2", alias="bob")

# List aliases for both collections
utility.list_aliases(collection_name="collection_1") # []
utility.list_aliases(collection_name="collection_2") # ['bob']

Related operations

The following operations are related to alter_alias():

• create_alias()

• drop_alias()

• list_aliases()