ALTER TABLE (SQL Analytics)
Alters the schema or properties of a table.
Table identifier parameter
The table identifier parameter in all statements has the following form:
- table_identifier
[database_name.] table_name
: A table name, optionally qualified with a database name.delta.`<path-to-table>`
: The location of an existing Delta table.
RENAME TO
Changes the name of an existing table in the database.
SET AND UNSET
SET TABLE PROPERTIES
Set and unset table properties. If a property was already set, overrides the old value with the new one.
SET SERDE
Sets the SERDE
or SERDE
properties in Hive tables. If a property was already set, overrides the old value with the new one.
Delta table options
In addition to the standard ALTER TABLE
options, Delta tables support the options described in this section.
In this section:
For add, change, and replace column examples, see Explicitly update schema.
ADD COLUMNS
Adds columns to an existing table including adding nested columns. If a column with the same name already exists in the table or the same nested struct, an exception is thrown.
CHANGE COLUMN
Changes a column definition of an existing table. You can change the data type, comment, or nullability of a column and reorder columns.
CHANGE COLUMN (Hive syntax)
Changes a column definition of an existing table. You can change the comment of the column and reorder columns.
Syntax
ALTER TABLE table_identifier CHANGE [COLUMN] col_name col_name data_type [COMMENT col_comment] [FIRST|AFTER colA_name]
ALTER TABLE table_identifier CHANGE [COLUMN] col_name.nested_col_name col_name data_type [COMMENT col_comment] [FIRST|AFTER colA_name]
Note
You cannot use CHANGE COLUMN
:
- To change the contents of complex data types such as structs. Instead use
ADD COLUMNS
to add new columns to nested fields, orALTER COLUMN
to change the properties of a nested column. - To relax the nullability of a column. Instead use
ALTER TABLE table_name ALTER COLUMN column_name DROP NOT NULL
.
REPLACE COLUMNS
Replaces the column definitions of an existing table. It supports changing the comments of columns, adding columns, and reordering columns. If specified column definitions are not compatible with the existing definitions, an exception is thrown.
Examples
-- RENAME table
DESC student;
+-----------------------+---------+-------+
| col_name|data_type|comment|
+-----------------------+---------+-------+
| name| string| NULL|
| rollno| int| NULL|
| age| int| NULL|
|# Partition Information| | |
| # col_name|data_type|comment|
| age| int| NULL|
+-----------------------+---------+-------+
ALTER TABLE Student RENAME TO StudentInfo;
-- After Renaming the table
DESC StudentInfo;
+-----------------------+---------+-------+
| col_name|data_type|comment|
+-----------------------+---------+-------+
| name| string| NULL|
| rollno| int| NULL|
| age| int| NULL|
|# Partition Information| | |
| # col_name|data_type|comment|
| age| int| NULL|
+-----------------------+---------+-------+
-- RENAME partition
SHOW PARTITIONS StudentInfo;
+---------+
|partition|
+---------+
| age=10|
| age=11|
| age=12|
+---------+
ALTER TABLE default.StudentInfo PARTITION (age='10') RENAME TO PARTITION (age='15');
-- After renaming Partition
SHOW PARTITIONS StudentInfo;
+---------+
|partition|
+---------+
| age=11|
| age=12|
| age=15|
+---------+
-- Add new columns to a table
DESC StudentInfo;
+-----------------------+---------+-------+
| col_name|data_type|comment|
+-----------------------+---------+-------+
| name| string| NULL|
| rollno| int| NULL|
| age| int| NULL|
|# Partition Information| | |
| # col_name|data_type|comment|
| age| int| NULL|
+-----------------------+---------+-------+
ALTER TABLE StudentInfo ADD columns (LastName string, DOB timestamp);
-- After Adding New columns to the table
DESC StudentInfo;
+-----------------------+---------+-------+
| col_name|data_type|comment|
+-----------------------+---------+-------+
| name| string| NULL|
| rollno| int| NULL|
| LastName| string| NULL|
| DOB|timestamp| NULL|
| age| int| NULL|
|# Partition Information| | |
| # col_name|data_type|comment|
| age| int| NULL|
+-----------------------+---------+-------+
-- Add a new partition to a table
SHOW PARTITIONS StudentInfo;
+---------+
|partition|
+---------+
| age=11|
| age=12|
| age=15|
+---------+
ALTER TABLE StudentInfo ADD IF NOT EXISTS PARTITION (age=18);
-- After adding a new partition to the table
SHOW PARTITIONS StudentInfo;
+---------+
|partition|
+---------+
| age=11|
| age=12|
| age=15|
| age=18|
+---------+
-- Drop a partition from the table
SHOW PARTITIONS StudentInfo;
+---------+
|partition|
+---------+
| age=11|
| age=12|
| age=15|
| age=18|
+---------+
ALTER TABLE StudentInfo DROP IF EXISTS PARTITION (age=18);
-- After dropping the partition of the table
SHOW PARTITIONS StudentInfo;
+---------+
|partition|
+---------+
| age=11|
| age=12|
| age=15|
+---------+
-- Adding multiple partitions to the table
SHOW PARTITIONS StudentInfo;
+---------+
|partition|
+---------+
| age=11|
| age=12|
| age=15|
+---------+
ALTER TABLE StudentInfo ADD IF NOT EXISTS PARTITION (age=18) PARTITION (age=20);
-- After adding multiple partitions to the table
SHOW PARTITIONS StudentInfo;
+---------+
|partition|
+---------+
| age=11|
| age=12|
| age=15|
| age=18|
| age=20|
+---------+
-- ALTER OR CHANGE COLUMNS
DESC StudentInfo;
+-----------------------+---------+-------+
| col_name|data_type|comment|
+-----------------------+---------+-------+
| name| string| NULL|
| rollno| int| NULL|
| LastName| string| NULL|
| DOB|timestamp| NULL|
| age| int| NULL|
|# Partition Information| | |
| # col_name|data_type|comment|
| age| int| NULL|
+-----------------------+---------+-------+
ALTER TABLE StudentInfo ALTER COLUMN name COMMENT "new comment";
--After ALTER or CHANGE COLUMNS
DESC StudentInfo;
+-----------------------+---------+-----------+
| col_name|data_type| comment|
+-----------------------+---------+-----------+
| name| string|new comment|
| rollno| int| NULL|
| LastName| string| NULL|
| DOB|timestamp| NULL|
| age| int| NULL|
|# Partition Information| | |
| # col_name|data_type| comment|
| age| int| NULL|
+-----------------------+---------+-----------+
-- Change the fileformat
ALTER TABLE loc_orc SET fileformat orc;
ALTER TABLE p1 partition (month=2, day=2) SET fileformat parquet;
-- Change the file Location
ALTER TABLE dbx.tab1 PARTITION (a='1', b='2') SET LOCATION '/path/to/part/ways'
-- SET SERDE/ SERDE Properties
ALTER TABLE test_tab SET SERDE 'org.apache.hadoop.hive.serde2.columnar.LazyBinaryColumnarSerDe';
ALTER TABLE dbx.tab1 SET SERDE 'org.apache.hadoop' WITH SERDEPROPERTIES ('k' = 'v', 'kay' = 'vee')
-- SET TABLE PROPERTIES
ALTER TABLE dbx.tab1 SET TBLPROPERTIES ('winner' = 'loser');
-- SET TABLE COMMENT Using SET PROPERTIES
ALTER TABLE dbx.tab1 SET TBLPROPERTIES ('comment' = 'A table comment.');
-- Alter TABLE COMMENT Using SET PROPERTIES
ALTER TABLE dbx.tab1 SET TBLPROPERTIES ('comment' = 'This is a new comment.');
-- DROP TABLE PROPERTIES
ALTER TABLE dbx.tab1 UNSET TBLPROPERTIES ('winner');