addColumn

The addColumn Change Type adds a new column to an existing table.

Uses

You can typically use the addColumn Change Type when you want to add a new column and deploy it to the table in your database.

Running the `addColumn` Change Type

To create a column for your table, follow these steps:

Add the addColumn Change Type to your changeset with the needed attributes as it is shown in the examples.
Deploy your changeset by running the update command:

liquibase update

Now, you should see a new column.

Available attributes

Name	Description	Required for	Supports
`catalogName`	Name of the catalog		all
`schemaName`	Name of the schema		all
`tableName`	Name of the table to add the column to	all	all

Nested tags

Name Description Required for Supports Multiple allowed

Name	Description	Required for	Supports	Multiple allowed
`column`	The column constraint and foreign key information. Setting the `defaultValue` attribute specifies a default value for the column. Setting the `value` attribute sets all rows existing to the specified value without modifying the column default. Note: YAML and JSON changelogs using the `column` tag must nest it within a `columns` tag.	all	all	yes

column

The column constraint and foreign key information.

Setting the defaultValue attribute specifies a default value for the column. Setting the value attribute sets all rows existing to the specified value without modifying the column default.

Note: YAML and JSON changelogs using the column tag must nest it within a columns tag.

all

yes

XML example

...
<changeSet author="liquibase-docs" id="addColumn-example"> 
    <addColumn catalogName="cat"  
        schemaName= "public"
        tableName="person">
        <column name="address" 
            position="2"  
            type="varchar(255)"/>  
        <column afterColumn="id" 
            name="name"  
            type="varchar(50)">  
            <constraints nullable="false" />  
        </column>  
    </addColumn>  
</changeSet>
...

YAML example

...
- changeSet:
    id: addColumn-example
    author: liquibase-docs
    changes:
      - addColumn:
          tableName: person
          columns:
          - column:
              name: middlename
              type: varchar(50)
...

JSON example

...
{
  "changeSet": {
  "id":"addColumn-example",
  "author":"liquibase-docs",
  "changes": [
     {
       "addColumn": {
         "catalogName":"cat",
         "columns": [
            {
              "column": {
                 "name":"address",
                 "position":2,
                 "type":"varchar(255)"
               } 
            },
            {
              "column": {
                 "afterColumn":"id",
                 "constraints": {
                    "nullable":false
                 },
                 "name":"name",
                 "type":"varchar(50)"
              }
           }
         ],
         "schemaName":"public",
         "tableName":"person"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}
...

SQL example

...
--changeset liquibase-docs:addColumn-example
ALTER TABLE cat.person ADD address VARCHAR(255) NULL,  
ADD name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL AFTER `id`;
...

Database support

Database	Notes	Auto Rollback
DB2/LUW	Supported	Yes
DB2/z	Supported	Yes
Derby	Supported	Yes
Firebird	Supported	Yes
H2	Supported	Yes
HyperSQL	Supported	Yes
INGRES	Supported	Yes
Informix	Supported	Yes
MariaDB	Supported	Yes
MySQL	Supported	Yes
Oracle	Supported	Yes
PostgreSQL	Supported	Yes
Snowflake	Supported	Yes
SQL Server	Supported	Yes
SQLite	Supported	Yes
Sybase	Supported	Yes
Sybase Anywhere	Supported	Yes