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The ADD COLUMN statement is part of ALTER TABLE and adds columns to tables.
Tip:
This command can be combined with other ALTER TABLE commands in a single statement. For a list of commands that can be combined, see ALTER TABLE. For a demonstration, see Add and rename columns atomically.
Synopsis
Required privileges
The user must have the CREATE privilege on the table.
Parameters
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
table_name |
The name of the table to which you want to add the column. |
column_name |
The name of the column you want to add. The column name must follow these identifier rules and must be unique within the table but can have the same name as indexes or constraints. |
typename |
The data type of the new column. |
col_qualification |
An optional list of column definitions, which may include column-level constraints, collation, or column family assignments. If the column family is not specified, the column will be added to the first column family. For more information about how column families are assigned, see Column Families. |
Viewing schema changes
This schema change statement is registered as a job. You can view long-running jobs with SHOW JOBS.
Examples
Setup
The following examples use the bank demo database schema.
To follow along, run cockroach demo bank to start a temporary, in-memory cluster with the bank schema and dataset preloaded:
$ cockroach demo bank
Add a single column
> ALTER TABLE bank ADD COLUMN active BOOL;
> SHOW COLUMNS FROM bank;
column_name | data_type | is_nullable | column_default | generation_expression | indices | is_hidden
--------------+-----------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------+-----------+------------
id | INT8 | false | NULL | | {primary} | false
balance | INT8 | true | NULL | | {} | false
payload | STRING | true | NULL | | {} | false
active | BOOL | true | NULL | | {} | false
(4 rows)
Add multiple columns
> ALTER TABLE bank ADD COLUMN location STRING, ADD COLUMN currency STRING;
> SHOW COLUMNS FROM bank;
column_name | data_type | is_nullable | column_default | generation_expression | indices | is_hidden
--------------+-----------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------+-----------+------------
id | INT8 | false | NULL | | {primary} | false
balance | INT8 | true | NULL | | {} | false
payload | STRING | true | NULL | | {} | false
active | BOOL | true | NULL | | {} | false
location | STRING | true | NULL | | {} | false
currency | STRING | true | NULL | | {} | false
(6 rows)
Add a column with a NOT NULL constraint and a DEFAULT value
> ALTER TABLE bank ADD COLUMN interest DECIMAL NOT NULL DEFAULT (DECIMAL '1.3');
> SHOW COLUMNS FROM bank;
column_name | data_type | is_nullable | column_default | generation_expression | indices | is_hidden
--------------+-----------+-------------+------------------------+-----------------------+-----------+------------
id | INT8 | false | NULL | | {primary} | false
balance | INT8 | true | NULL | | {} | false
payload | STRING | true | NULL | | {} | false
active | BOOL | true | NULL | | {} | false
location | STRING | true | NULL | | {} | false
currency | STRING | true | NULL | | {} | false
interest | DECIMAL | false | 1.3:::DECIMAL::DECIMAL | | {} | false
(7 rows)
Add a column with a UNIQUE constraint
> ALTER TABLE bank ADD COLUMN address STRING UNIQUE;
> SHOW COLUMNS FROM bank;
column_name | data_type | is_nullable | column_default | generation_expression | indices | is_hidden
--------------+-----------+-------------+------------------------+-----------------------+----------------------------+------------
id | INT8 | false | NULL | | {primary,bank_address_key} | false
balance | INT8 | true | NULL | | {} | false
payload | STRING | true | NULL | | {} | false
active | BOOL | true | NULL | | {} | false
location | STRING | true | NULL | | {} | false
currency | STRING | true | NULL | | {} | false
interest | DECIMAL | false | 1.3:::DECIMAL::DECIMAL | | {} | false
address | STRING | true | NULL | | {bank_address_key} | false
(8 rows)
New in v20.2: Add a column with a FOREIGN KEY constraint
> CREATE TABLE customers (
id INT PRIMARY KEY,
name STRING
);
> ALTER TABLE bank ADD COLUMN cust_number INT REFERENCES customers(id);
> SHOW COLUMNS FROM bank;
column_name | data_type | is_nullable | column_default | generation_expression | indices | is_hidden
--------------+-----------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------+----------------------------+------------
id | INT8 | false | NULL | | {primary,bank_address_key} | false
balance | INT8 | true | NULL | | {} | false
payload | STRING | true | NULL | | {} | false
active | BOOL | true | NULL | | {} | false
location | STRING | true | NULL | | {} | false
currency | STRING | true | NULL | | {} | false
interest | DECIMAL | false | 1.3:::DECIMAL | | {} | false
address | STRING | true | NULL | | {bank_address_key} | false
cust_number | INT8 | true | NULL | | {} | false
(9 rows)
> SHOW CONSTRAINTS FROM bank;
table_name | constraint_name | constraint_type | details | validated
-------------+------------------------------+-----------------+----------------------------------------------------+------------
bank | bank_address_key | UNIQUE | UNIQUE (address ASC) | true
bank | fk_cust_number_ref_customers | FOREIGN KEY | FOREIGN KEY (cust_number) REFERENCES customers(id) | true
bank | primary | PRIMARY KEY | PRIMARY KEY (id ASC) | true
(3 rows)
Add a column with collation
> ALTER TABLE bank ADD COLUMN more_names STRING COLLATE en;
> SHOW COLUMNS FROM bank;
column_name | data_type | is_nullable | column_default | generation_expression | indices | is_hidden
--------------+-------------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------+----------------------------+------------
id | INT8 | false | NULL | | {primary,bank_address_key} | false
balance | INT8 | true | NULL | | {} | false
payload | STRING | true | NULL | | {} | false
active | BOOL | true | NULL | | {} | false
location | STRING | true | NULL | | {} | false
currency | STRING | true | NULL | | {} | false
interest | DECIMAL | false | 1.3:::DECIMAL | | {} | false
address | STRING | true | NULL | | {bank_address_key} | false
cust_number | INT8 | true | NULL | | {} | false
more_names | STRING COLLATE en | true | NULL | | {} | false
(10 rows)
Add a column and assign it to a column family
Add a column and assign it to a new column family
> ALTER TABLE bank ADD COLUMN location1 STRING CREATE FAMILY f1;
> SHOW CREATE TABLE bank;
table_name | create_statement
-------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
bank | CREATE TABLE bank (
| id INT8 NOT NULL,
| balance INT8 NULL,
| payload STRING NULL,
| active BOOL NULL,
| location STRING NULL,
| currency STRING NULL,
| interest DECIMAL NOT NULL DEFAULT 1.3:::DECIMAL,
| address STRING NULL,
| cust_number INT8 NULL,
| more_names STRING COLLATE en NULL,
| location1 STRING NULL,
| CONSTRAINT "primary" PRIMARY KEY (id ASC),
| CONSTRAINT fk_cust_number_ref_customers FOREIGN KEY (cust_number) REFERENCES customers(id),
| UNIQUE INDEX bank_address_key (address ASC),
| FAMILY fam_0_id_balance_payload (id, balance, payload, active, location, currency, interest, address, cust_number, more_names),
| FAMILY f1 (location1)
| )
(1 row)
Add a column and assign it to an existing column family
> ALTER TABLE bank ADD COLUMN location2 STRING FAMILY f1;
> SHOW CREATE TABLE bank;
table_name | create_statement
-------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
bank | CREATE TABLE bank (
| id INT8 NOT NULL,
| balance INT8 NULL,
| payload STRING NULL,
| active BOOL NULL,
| location STRING NULL,
| currency STRING NULL,
| interest DECIMAL NOT NULL DEFAULT 1.3:::DECIMAL,
| address STRING NULL,
| cust_number INT8 NULL,
| more_names STRING COLLATE en NULL,
| location1 STRING NULL,
| location2 STRING NULL,
| CONSTRAINT "primary" PRIMARY KEY (id ASC),
| CONSTRAINT fk_cust_number_ref_customers FOREIGN KEY (cust_number) REFERENCES customers(id),
| UNIQUE INDEX bank_address_key (address ASC),
| FAMILY fam_0_id_balance_payload (id, balance, payload, active, location, currency, interest, address, cust_number, more_names),
| FAMILY f1 (location1, location2)
| )
(1 row)
Add a column and create a new column family if column family does not exist
> ALTER TABLE bank ADD COLUMN new_name STRING CREATE IF NOT EXISTS FAMILY f2;
> SHOW CREATE TABLE bank;
table_name | create_statement
-------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
bank | CREATE TABLE bank (
| id INT8 NOT NULL,
| balance INT8 NULL,
| payload STRING NULL,
| active BOOL NULL,
| location STRING NULL,
| currency STRING NULL,
| interest DECIMAL NOT NULL DEFAULT 1.3:::DECIMAL,
| address STRING NULL,
| cust_number INT8 NULL,
| more_names STRING COLLATE en NULL,
| location1 STRING NULL,
| location2 STRING NULL,
| new_name STRING NULL,
| CONSTRAINT "primary" PRIMARY KEY (id ASC),
| CONSTRAINT fk_cust_number_ref_customers FOREIGN KEY (cust_number) REFERENCES customers(id),
| UNIQUE INDEX bank_address_key (address ASC),
| FAMILY fam_0_id_balance_payload (id, balance, payload, active, location, currency, interest, address, cust_number, more_names),
| FAMILY f1 (location1, location2),
| FAMILY f2 (new_name)
| )
(1 row)
See also
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