Reference
Version · 5.1
Reference guide

modifyDataType

Last updated: August 12, 2026

Allows you to modify the data types of columns in a table.

Run modifyDataType

To run this Change Type, follow these steps:

Add the Change Type to your changeset, as shown in the examples on this page.
Specify any required attributes. Use the table on this page to see which ones your database requires.
Deploy your changeset by running the update command:liquibase update

Available attributes

Name	Description	Required for	Supports	Since
`catalogName`	Name of the catalog		all	3.0
`columnName`	Name of the column	all	all
`newDataType`	Data type to convert the column to. Only modifies the data type itself and cannot define constraints	all	all
`schemaName`	Name of the schema		all
`tableName`	Name of the table containing the column whose data type you want to change	all	all

Database support

Database	Notes	Auto Rollback
DB2/LUW	Supported	No
DB2/z	Not Supported	No
Derby	Supported	No
Firebird	Supported	No
Google BigQuery	Supported	No
H2	Supported	No
HyperSQL	Supported	No
INGRES	Supported	No
Informix	Supported	No
MariaDB	Supported	No
MySQL	Supported	No
Oracle	Supported	No
PostgreSQL	Supported	No
Snowflake	Supported	No
SQL Server	Supported	No
SQLite	Not Supported	No
Sybase	Supported	No
Sybase Anywhere	Supported	No

modifyDataType examples

--liquibase formatted sql

--changeset liquibase-docs:modifyDataType-example
ALTER  TABLE  cat.person  MODIFY  id  INT;

databaseChangeLog:
-  changeSet:
    id:  modifyDataType-example
    author:  liquibase-docs
    changes:
    -  modifyDataType:
        catalogName:  cat
        columnName:  id
        newDataType:  int
        schemaName:  public
        tableName:  person

{
    "databaseChangeLog": [
        {
            "changeSet": {
                "id": "modifyDataType-example",
                "author": "liquibase-docs",
                "changes": [
                    {
                        "modifyDataType": {
                            "catalogName": "cat",
                            "columnName": "id",
                            "newDataType": "int",
                            "schemaName": "public",
                            "tableName": "person"
                        }
                    }
                ]
            }
        }
    ]
}

<databaseChangeLog
    xmlns="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:ext="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog-ext"
    xmlns:pro="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-latest.xsd
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog-ext
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-ext.xsd
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro/liquibase-pro-latest.xsd">

    <changeSet  author="liquibase-docs"  id="modifyDataType-example">
        <modifyDataType  catalogName="cat"
            columnName="id"
            newDataType="int"
            schemaName="public"
            tableName="person"/>
    </changeSet>

</databaseChangeLog>

--liquibase formatted sql

--changeset liquibase-docs:modifyDataType-example
ALTER  TABLE  cat.person  MODIFY  id  INT;

databaseChangeLog:
-  changeSet:
    id:  modifyDataType-example
    author:  liquibase-docs
    changes:
    -  modifyDataType:
        catalogName:  cat
        columnName:  id
        newDataType:  int
        schemaName:  public
        tableName:  person

{
    "databaseChangeLog": [
        {
            "changeSet": {
                "id": "modifyDataType-example",
                "author": "liquibase-docs",
                "changes": [
                    {
                        "modifyDataType": {
                            "catalogName": "cat",
                            "columnName": "id",
                            "newDataType": "int",
                            "schemaName": "public",
                            "tableName": "person"
                        }
                    }
                ]
            }
        }
    ]
}

<databaseChangeLog
    xmlns="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:ext="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog-ext"
    xmlns:pro="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-latest.xsd
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog-ext
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-ext.xsd
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro/liquibase-pro-latest.xsd">

    <changeSet  author="liquibase-docs"  id="modifyDataType-example">
        <modifyDataType  catalogName="cat"
            columnName="id"
            newDataType="int"
            schemaName="public"
            tableName="person"/>
    </changeSet>

</databaseChangeLog>

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modifyDataType

Run modifyDataType

Available attributes

Database support

modifyDataType examples

SQL example

YAML example

JSON example

XML example