What happens when you execute the same alter column several times, e.g:
ALTER table1 ALTER column column1 varchar(40)
ALTER table1 ALTER column column1 varchar(40)
...
Does SQL Server compare altering types in first place or does it use the same mechanism for every alter?
You can check the transaction log, or use table change tracking, or use CDC to track, then you will find out what id the difference between first time and second time. You will see no difference.
Related
Are there any negative implications to running an alter table alter column statement more than once in SQL Server?
Say I alter a column's datatype and nullability like this:
--create table
create table Table1
(
Column1 varchar(50) not null
)
go
--insert some records
insert into Table1 values('a')
insert into Table1 values('b')
go
--alter once
alter table Table1
alter column Column1 nvarchar(250) not null
go
--alter twice
alter table Table1
alter column Column1 nvarchar(250) not null
go
The above set of sql all works and I have tested these. I could also test for the properties in the alter statements. The question is that is there any advantage to say checking if the column is not already nullable before altering.
After the first alter, does SQL Server figure out that the table has already been altered and hence the 2nd alter essentially does nothing?
Are there any differences across different versions of SQL Server about how this is handled?
Thanks,
Ilias
This is a metadata only operation.
It doesn't have to read or write any of the data pages belonging to Table1. It isn't quite a no-op though.
It will still start up a transaction, acquire a schema modification lock on the table and update the modified column in the row for this table in sys.sysschobjs (exposed to us through the modified_date column in sys.objects).
Moreover because the table has been modified any execution plans referencing the table will need to be recompiled on next usage.
I have an existing table in SQL SERVER 2008 with one of its column as NVARCHAR(MAX) and it only has values of less than 10 characters in it.
This table is in production and has data in it.
I have got a requirement wherein I have to Alter this column from NVARCHAR(MAX) to NVARCHAR(50). The SQL Server gives some Truncation error while doing this operation, even though the data in that column is less than 10 characters.
This is my script:
ALTER TABLE [dbo].[Table] ALTER COLUMN [Column1] NVARCHAR ( 50 ) NOT NULL
First Check Your table data with this query:
SELECT DATALENGTH(Column_Name) AS FIELDSIZE, Column_Name
FROM Table_Name
If everything is fine, you may have checked the Prevent Saving Changes option. Follow these steps to check:
Tools > Designers Uncheck Prevent saving changes that require table re-creation
If you are sure that you wouldn't lose data, then:
Update myTable set myNVMaxCol = left(coalesce(myNVMaxCol,''),50);
Alter table myTable alter column myNVMaxCol nvarchar(50) not null;
I have a SQL Server table and it is located on a remote server. I can connect to it with SQL Server Management Studio but opening it takes time instead, I am doing my jobs with SQL Query window without reaching it.
Recently I've made a change on the local copy of this table and want to update the remote one as well. All I've done is adding one more column which is Nullable and I'd like to learn how to add this one more column to the remote SQL Server with T-SQL without ruining the remote one data.
Here is the additional info:
Table Name: Products
Columns to be added: LastUpdate, Nullable and varchar(200)
Thanks.
The syntax you need is
ALTER TABLE Products ADD LastUpdate varchar(200) NULL
This is a metadata only operation
What about something like:
Alter Table Products
Add LastUpdate varchar(200) null
Do you need something more complex than this?
Its work perfectly
ALTER TABLE `products` ADD `LastUpdate` varchar(200) NULL;
But if you want more precise in table then you can try AFTER.
ALTER TABLE `products` ADD `LastUpdate` varchar(200) NULL AFTER `column_name`;
It will add LastUpdate column after specified column name (column_name).
alter table table_name add field_name (size);
alter table arnicsc add place number(10);
I have SQL Server database and I just realized that I can change the type of one of the columns from int to bool.
How can I do that without losing the data that is already entered into that table?
You can easily do this using the following command. Any value of 0 will be turned into a 0 (BIT = false), anything else will be turned into 1 (BIT = true).
ALTER TABLE dbo.YourTable
ALTER COLUMN YourColumnName BIT
The other option would be to create a new column of type BIT, fill it from the old column, and once you're done, drop the old column and rename the new one to the old name. That way, if something during the conversion goes wrong, you can always go back since you still have all the data..
ALTER TABLE tablename
ALTER COLUMN columnname columndatatype(size)
Note: if there is a size of columns, just write the size also.
If it is a valid change.
you can change the property.
Tools --> Options --> Designers --> Table and Database designers --> Uncheck --> Prevent saving changes that required table re-creation.
Now you can easily change the column name without recreating the table or losing u r records.
if you use T-SQL(MSSQL); you should try this script:
ALTER TABLE [Employee] ALTER COLUMN [Salary] NUMERIC(22,5)
if you use MySQL; you should try this script:
ALTER TABLE [Employee] MODIFY COLUMN [Salary] NUMERIC(22,5)
if you use Oracle; you should try this script:
ALTER TABLE [Employee] MODIFY [Salary] NUMERIC(22,5)
Why do you think you will lose data? Simply go into Management Studio and change the data type. If the existing value can be converted to bool (bit), it will do that. In other words, if "1" maps to true and "0" maps to false in your original field, you'll be fine.
Go to Tool-Option-designers-Table and Database designers and Uncheck Prevent saving option
for me , in sql server 2016, I do it like this
*To rename column Column1 to column2
EXEC sp_rename 'dbo.T_Table1.Column1', 'Column2', 'COLUMN'
*To modify column Type from string to int:( Please be sure that data are in the correct format)
ALTER TABLE dbo.T_Table1 ALTER COLUMN Column2 int;
Alter column data type with check type of column :
IF EXISTS(
SELECT 1
FROM sys.columns
WHERE NAME = 'YourColumnName'
AND [object_id] = OBJECT_ID('dbo.YourTable')
AND TYPE_NAME(system_type_id) = 'int'
)
ALTER TABLE dbo.YourTable ALTER COLUMN YourColumnName BIT
In compact edition will take size automatically for datetime data type i.e. (8) so no need to set size of field and generate error for this operation...
I can modify the table field's datatype, with these following query: and also in the Oracle DB,
ALTER TABLE table_name
MODIFY column_name datatype;
Replace datatype without losing data
alter table tablename modify columnn newdatatype(size);
I have a column which has a datatype : datetime. But now i want to convert it to datatype varchar. Can i alter the datatype without droppping the column? If yes, then please explain how?
MSDN says
ALTER TABLE mytable ALTER COLUMN mycolumn newtype
Beware of the limitations of the ALTER COLUMN clause listed in the article
If ALTER COLUMN doesn't work.
It is not unusual for alter column to fail because it cannot make the transformation you desire. In this case, the solution is to create a dummy table TableName_tmp, copy the data over with your specialized transformation in the bulk Insert command, drop the original table, and rename the tmp table to the original table's name. You'll have to drop and recreate the Foreign key constraints and, for performance, you'll probably want to create keys after filling the tmp table.
Sound like a lot of work? Actually, it isn't.
If you are using SQL Server, you can make the SQL Server Management Studio do the work for you!
Bring up your table structure (right-click on the table column and select "Modify")
Make all of your changes (if the column transformation is illegal, just add your new column - you'll patch it up in a moment).
Right-click on the background of the Modify window and select "Generate Change Script." In the window that appears, you can copy the change script to the clipboard.
Cancel the Modify (you'll want to test your script, after all) and then paste the script into a new query window.
Modify as necessary (e.g. add your transformation while removing the field from the tmp table declaration) and you now have the script necessary to make your transformation.
ALTER TABLE [table name] MODIFY COLUMN [column name] datatype
ALTER TABLE YourTableNameHere ALTER COLUMN YourColumnNameHere VARCHAR(20)
Type the below query:
alter table table_Name alter column column_name datatype
e.g.
alter table Message alter column message nvarchar(1024);
ALTER TABLE YourTableNameHere ALTER COLUMN YourColumnNameHere VARCHAR(20)
With SQL server 2008 and more, using this query:
ALTER TABLE [RecipeInventorys] ALTER COLUMN [RecipeName] varchar(550)
This work for postgresql 9.0.3
alter table [table name] ALTER COLUMN [column name] TYPE [character varying];
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.0/static/sql-altertable.html
ALTER TABLE [table_name] ALTER COLUMN [column_name] varchar(150)
ALTER TABLE YourTableNameHere ALTER COLUMN YourColumnNameHere VARCHAR(20) this is perfect for change to datatype
ORACLE - Alter table table_name modify(column_name new_DataType);
ALTER TABLE yourtable MODIFY COLUMN yourcolumn datatype
ALTER TABLE table_name
MODIFY (column_name data_type);
ALTER tablename MODIFY columnName newColumnType
I'm not sure how it will handle the change from datetime to varchar though, so you may need to rename the column, add a new one with the old name and the correct data type (varchar) and then write an update query to populate the new column from the old.
http://www.1keydata.com/sql/sql-alter-table.html
alter table [table name] remove [present column name] to [new column name.