ALTER TABLE

Published May 7, 2021Updated Jun 25, 2022

The ALTER TABLE command adds, deletes, modifies, or changes the data type of a column in a table.

Code Example

Beginning table:

student_id	name	address	last_terms_grades	overall_gpa
10001	Tim	123 R Ave	2.4	3.1
10002	Amy	789 T St	3.2	3.8

ALTER TABLE students
ADD exam_grade INT(3);

After ADDing the new column exam_grade:

student_id	name	address	last_terms_grades	overall_gpa	exam_grade
10001	Tim	123 R Ave	2.4	3.1	null
10002	Amy	789 T St	3.2	3.8	null

ALTER TABLE students
DROP COLUMN last_terms_grades;

After DROPing the column last_terms_grades:

student_id	name	address	overall_gpa	exam_grade
10001	Tim	123 R Ave	3.1	null
10002	Amy	789 T St	3.8	null

Beginner Friendly

Beginner Friendly