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Alter Table Command in SQL

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6 views3 pages

Alter Table Command in SQL

Uploaded by

shashwatswapnilsingh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ALTER TABLE command is used to add, delete or modify columns in an existing

table. You should also use the ALTER TABLE command to add and drop various
constraints on an existing table.

Syntax;
The basic syntax of an ALTER TABLE command to add a New Column in an
existing table is as follows.
ALTER TABLE table_name ADD column_name datatype;
The basic syntax of an ALTER TABLE command to DROP COLUMN in an existing
table is as follows.
ALTER TABLE table_name DROP COLUMN column_name;
The basic syntax of an ALTER TABLE command to change the DATA TYPE of a
column in a table is as follows.
ALTER TABLE table_name MODIFY COLUMN column_name datatype;
The basic syntax of an ALTER TABLE command to add a NOT NULL constraint to
a column in a table is as follows.
ALTER TABLE table_name MODIFY column_name datatype NOT NULL;
The basic syntax of ALTER TABLE to ADD UNIQUE CONSTRAINT to a table is as
follows.
ALTER TABLE table_name
ADD CONSTRAINT MyUniqueConstraint UNIQUE(column1, column2...);
The basic syntax of an ALTER TABLE command to ADD CHECK CONSTRAINT to
a table is as follows.
ALTER TABLE table_name
ADD CONSTRAINT MyUniqueConstraint CHECK (CONDITION);
The basic syntax of an ALTER TABLE command to ADD PRIMARY KEY constraint
to a table is as follows.-vv

ALTER TABLE ta ble_name


ADD CONSTRAINT MyPrimaryKey PRIMARY KEY (column1, column2...);
The basic syntax of an ALTER TABLE command to DROP CONSTRAINT from a
table is as follows.
ALTER TABLE table_name
DROP CONSTRAINT MyUniqueConstraint;
If you're using MySQL, the code is as follows −
ALTER TABLE table_name

DROP INDEX MyUniqueConstraint;

The basic syntax of an ALTER TABLE command to DROP PRIMARY


KEY constraint from a table is as follows.
ALTER TABLE table_name
DROP CONSTRAINT MyPrimaryKey;
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If you're using MySQL, the code is as follows −
ALTER TABLE table_name
DROP PRIMARY KEY;

Example
Consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records −
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Following is the example to ADD a New Column to an existing table −


ALTER TABLE CUSTOMERS ADD SEX char(1);

Now, the CUSTOMERS table is changed and following wou[ld be output from the
SELECT statement.
+----+---------+-----+-----------+----------+------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY | SEX |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+----------+------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 | NULL |
| 2 | Ramesh | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 | NULL |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 | NULL |
| 4 | kaushik | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 | NULL |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 | NULL |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 | NULL |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 | NULL |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+----------+------+
Following is the example to DROP sex column from the existing table.
ALTER TABLE CUSTOMERS DROP SEX;

Now, the CUSTOMERS table is changed and following would be the output from
the SELECT statement.
+----+---------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Ramesh | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | kaushik | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+-
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