update-one-changeset

Last published July 28, 2025

Note: This is a Liquibase Pro feature, so you need a Liquibase Pro License Key to use it.

The update-one-changeset command lets you target and deploy any specific changeset in your changelog to your database. It is only available for Liquibase Pro users.

Uses

The update-one-changeset command is helpful if your changelog contains several undeployed changesets and you want to deploy only one specific changeset, but not the others.

The update command deploys all changesets, and the update-count command deploys a specified number of changesets in sequential order. However, update-one-changeset lets you deploy any single changeset anywhere in the changelog without affecting other undeployed changesets.

In Liquibase Pro 4.25.1 and later, you can automatically generate a database Update Report summarizing this command.

Impact

Like any targeted tool, using the update-one-changeset command comes with risks of unintended consequences. Because of this, the command requires a --force flag to indicate that you intend to run it.

Warning: Look for potential unintended consequences before using this command.

It is best practice to run the update-one-changeset-sql command because it allows you to inspect the update SQL and search for any potential mistakes before you execute update-one-changeset.

Syntax

Before running the update-one-changeset command, gather the following information from your changelog:

  • The author of the changeset you want to deploy.

  • The ID of the changeset you want to deploy.

  • The file path and name of the changeset you want to deploy.

Then run the update-one-changeset command, with your information:

liquibase update-one-changeset --changelog-file=example-changelog.xml --changeset-id=2 --changeset-author=anotherdev --changeset-path=example-changelog.xml --force

For more command-specific help, type liquibase update-one-changeset --help into the command prompt.

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.

Parameters

Global parameters

Parameter

Definition

Requirement

--license-key=<string>

Your Liquibase Pro license key

Required

Command parameters

Parameter

Definition

Requirement

--changelog-file=<string>

The root changelog

Required

--changeset-author=<string>

The name of the author for the changeset. Supports * as a wildcard.

Required

--changeset-id=<string>

The changeset ID from the changelog.

Required

--changeset-path=<string>

The path to the changelog containing the changeset you want to target. For example, you may have a root changelog (root.sql) and a child changelog (child.sql). To target a specific changeset in child.sql, specify --changeset-path=child.sql.

If root.sql uses include, includeAll, or sqlFile to reference child.sql, you must also specify --changelog-file=root.sql (file and path are different).

If root.sql does not reference child.sql, you must also specify --changelog-file=child.sql (file and path are the same).

If you only have one changelog, then --changelog-file and --changeset-path must also be the same.

Required

--force=<true|false>

A required parameter which indicates you intend to use this feature. If you specify --force or --force=true, the command executes. If you omit the parameter or specify --force=false, the command does not execute. Default: false.

Required

--url=<string>

The JDBC database connection URL.

Required

--change-exec-listener-class=<string>

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=<string>

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=<string>

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=<string>

Name of the default catalog to use for the database connection

Optional

--default-schema-name=<string>

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.

Note: In the properties file and JAVA_OPTS only in 4.18.0 and earlier, specify this parameter using the syntax defaultSchemaName. In 4.19.0 and later, use the syntax liquibase.command.defaultSchemaName.

Note: In Liquibase 4.12.0 and later, you can use mixed-case schema names if you set --preserve-schema-case to true. However, in Liquibase 4.12.0–4.22.0, the Liquibase validator still throws an DatabaseException error if you specify a mixed-case value of defaultSchemaName. In 4.23.0 and later, the Liquibase validator accepts any casing.

Optional

--driver=<string>

The JDBC driver class

Optional

--driver-properties-file=<string>

The JDBC driver properties file

Optional

--force-on-partial-changes=<true|false>

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

--label-filter=<string>

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=<string>

Password to connect to the target database.

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

Optional

--report-enabled=<true|false>

Enables a report at the command level. Overrides the global parameter --reports-enabled. Default: true.

Optional

--report-name=<string>

Specifies the name of the report file at the command level. Overrides the global parameter --reports-name. By default, Liquibase generates a new report file labeled with a timestamp (user's local time). If you set a custom name, Liquibase overwrites the existing file every time you generate a new report. Default: report-<DD-Mon-YYYY-HHmmss>.html.

Optional

--report-path=<string>

Specifies the file path to the report file at the command level. Overrides the global parameter --reports-path. Default: ./.

Optional

--report-suppress-exception=<true|false>

Liquibase 4.31.0+. Specifies whether to hide exceptions (which may contain SQL) from the operation report at the command level. Overrides the global parameter --reports-suppress-exception. Default: false. However:

If --report-suppress-exception is not set and --report-suppress-sql=true, Liquibase suppresses all SQL, including exception SQL.

If --report-suppress-exception=false and --report-suppress-sql=true, Liquibase suppresses most SQL but shows exception SQL.

Optional

--report-suppress-sql=<true|false>

Liquibase 4.31.0+. Specifies whether to hide changeset SQL in operation reports at the command level. Overridden by the global parameter --reports-suppress-sql. Default: false.

Optional

--rollback-on-error=<true|false>

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

--username=<string>

Username to connect to the target database.

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

Optional

When successful, the update-one-changeset command produces the following output:

$ liquibase update-one-changeset --changeset-id=2 --changeset-author=anotherdev --changeset-path=example-changelog.sql --force Running Changeset: example-changelog.sql::2::anotherdev Liquibase command 'update-one-changeset' was executed successfully.

If you omit the --force attribute, Liquibase displays the following error:

$ liquibase update-one-changeset --changeset-id=2 --changeset-author=anotherdev --changeset-path=example-changelog.sql Unexpected error running Liquibase: WARNING: Targeted update of this changeset may result in unexpected outcomes. To review the update SQL before executing it, please run 'update-one-changeset-sql'. This message can be suppressed by adding the --force flag.