database/postgres
1
0
Fork 0
mirror of https://github.com/postgres/postgres.git synced 2025-07-28 23:42:10 +03:00
Code Activity

Add item for changing a column's data type.

Browse Source
This commit is contained in:
Bruce Momjian
2003-05-26 19:25:20 +00:00
parent 6923ea2b86
commit 90903069e9
2 changed files with 31 additions and 9 deletions
Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files

21
doc/FAQ
View File

@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for PostgreSQL
Last updated: Tue Apr 22 14:02:41 EDT 2003
Last updated: Mon May 26 15:25:04 EDT 2003
Current maintainer: Bruce Momjian (pgman@candle.pha.pa.us)
@ -60,7 +60,8 @@
4.1) What is the difference between binary cursors and normal cursors?
4.2) How do I SELECT only the first few rows of a query?
4.3) How do I get a list of tables or other things I can see in psql?
4.4) How do you remove a column from a table?
4.4) How do you remove a column from a table, or change it's data
type?
4.5) What is the maximum size for a row, a table, and a database?
4.6) How much database disk space is required to store data from a
typical text file?
@ -644,10 +645,10 @@
the -E option so it will print out the queries it uses to execute the
commands you give.
4.4) How do you remove a column from a table?
4.4) How do you remove a column from a table, or change its data type?
This functionality was added in release 7.3 with ALTER TABLE DROP
COLUMN. In earlier versions, you can do this:
DROP COLUMN functionality was added in release 7.3 with ALTER TABLE
DROP COLUMN. In earlier versions, you can do this:
BEGIN;
LOCK TABLE old_table;
SELECT ... -- select all columns but the one you want to remove
@ -657,6 +658,16 @@
ALTER TABLE new_table RENAME TO old_table;
COMMIT;
To change the data type of a column, do this:
BEGIN;
ALTER TABLE tab ADD COLUMN new_col new_data_type;
UPDATE tab SET new_col = CAST(old_col AS new_data_type);
ALTER TABLE DROP COLUMN old_col;
COMMIT;
You might then want to do VACUUM FULL tab to reclaim the disk space
used by the expired rows.
4.5) What is the maximum size for a row, a table, and a database?
These are the limits: