update

The update command deploys any changes that are in the changelog file and that have not been deployed to your database yet.

Uses

The update command is typically used to apply database changes that are specified in the changelog file to your database.

When you run the update command, Liquibase sequentially reads changesets in the changelog file, then it compares the unique identifiers of id, author, and path to filename to the values stored in the DATABASECHANGELOG table.

  • If the unique identifiers do not exist, Liquibase will apply the changeset to the database.
  • If the unique identifiers exist, the MD5Sum of the changeset is compared to the one in the database.
  • If they are different, Liquibase will produce an error message that someone has changed it unexpectedly. However, if the status of the runOnChange or runAlways changeset attribute is set to TRUE, Liquibase will re-apply the changeset.

Syntax

To run the update command, specify the driver, classpath, and URL in the Liquibase properties file. For more information, see Create and Configure a liquibase.properties File. You can also specify these properties in your command line.

Then run the update command:

liquibase update --changelog-file=example-changelog.xml

Global arguments

Tip: For best results, specify all commands and parameters in the --kebab-case format in the CLI. If your preference is camelCase, it also works in the CLI.

Attribute Definition Requirement
--liquibase-schema-name

Specifies in what schema the Liquibase DATABASECHANGELOG and DATABASECHANGELOGLOCK tables will be managed

 Optional
--liquibase-catalog-name

For MSSQL only: Specifies in what catalog the Liquibase DATABASECHANGELOG and DATABASECHANGELOGLOCK tables will be managed

 Optional

Command arguments

Attributes Definition Requirement
--changelog-file

The root changelog

 Required
--url

The JDBC database connection URL. See Using JDBC URL in Liquibase.

 Required
--change-exec-listener-class

Fully-qualified class which specifies a ChangeExecListener. For more information, see Implementing a Custom ChangeExecListener Class with Liquibase and ChangeExecListenerCommandStep.

 Optional
--change-exec-listener-properties-file

Path to a properties file for the ChangeExecListener class. For more information, see Implementing a Custom ChangeExecListener Class with Liquibase and ChangeExecListenerCommandStep.

 Optional
--context-filter

Specifies the changeset contexts to match. Contexts are tags you can add to changesets to control which changesets are executed in any particular migration run.

Note: If you use Liquibase 4.23.0 or earlier, use the syntax --contexts instead of --context-filter.

 Optional
--default-catalog-name

Name of the default catalog to use for the database connection

 Optional
--default-schema-name

Name of the default schema to use for the database connection. If defaultSchemaName is set, then objects do not have to be fully qualified. This means you can refer to just mytable instead of myschema.mytable.

Tip: In Liquibase v4.23.0+, camelCase for defaultSchemaName works successfully. If you are on an earlier version, camelCase may not work as expected.

Note: The syntax liquibase.command.defaultSchemaName is valid for v4.19.0+. For prior versions, use defaultSchemaName.

 Optional
--driver

The JDBC driver class

 Optional
--driver-properties-file

The JDBC driver properties file

 Optional
--force-on-partial-changes

Liquibase Pro only. Use this argument only if you are specifying --rollback-on-error=true to automatically roll back update operations containing errors. --force-on-partial-changes=true specifies whether Liquibase rolls back partially invalid changesets, such as a changeset containing two changes: one with an error and one without an error. This ensures that you can successfully roll back all changes if a deployment has an error, even if the changeset contains multiple changes. Available in Liquibase 4.25.0+. Default: false. See also: failOnError.

 Optional
--labels

Specifies the changeset labels to match. Labels are tags you can add to changesets to control which changesets will be executed in any migration run.

 Optional
--password

Password to connect to the target database.

Tip: It is a best practice to store sensitive data in a Secrets Management tool with Liquibase Pro.

 Optional
--rollback-on-error=[boolean]

Liquibase Pro only. If any changeset in a deployment fails, --rollback-on-error stops the update operation and rolls back all changesets you just deployed. Available in Liquibase 4.18.0+. Default: false.

Note: A changeset marked failOnError=false does not trigger as an error, so rollback-on-error will not occur. Additionally, if a changeset is not auto-rollback compliant or does not have a rollback script, then rollback-on-error does not occur for any changeset. Read more: failOnError.

 Optional
--show-summary

Produces a summary list of any changesets skipped and why they were skipped. Valid values are OFF, SUMMARY, and VERBOSE. Default: SUMMARY. Available in Liquibase 4.19.1+.

Note: Liquibase may display one or multiple reasons for halting deployment of a changeset. If Liquibase cannot resolve a halting reason, it does not evaluate the changeset for other possible halting reasons.

 Optional
--show-summary-output

Summary output to report update summary results. Valid values are LOG, CONSOLE, and ALL. If set to LOG, the --show-summary output is sent to the file specified in --log-file. If set to CONSOLE, the --show-summary output is sent to STDOUT. If set to ALL, the --show-summary output is sent to both locations. Default: ALL. Available in Liquibase 4.24.0+.

 Optional
--username

Username to connect to the target database.

Tip: It is a best practice to store sensitive data in a Secrets Management tool with Liquibase Pro.

 Optional

Note: The username and password attributes are not required for connections and systems which use alternate means of authentication. Also, you can specify database credentials as part of the url attribute.

Liquibase Version: 4.9.1
Liquibase Community 4.9.1 by Liquibase
Running Changeset: example-changelog.sql::1::your.name
Running Changeset: example-changelog.sql::2::your.name
Running Changeset: example-changelog.sql::3::other.dev

Liquibase command 'update' was executed successfully.

Related links