Reference
Version · 6.0
Change Automation Reference

Alter Standard Table - Collation

Last updated: August 12, 2026

Modifies the default DDL collation for string columns in the table.

Known limitations:

This change type does not support automatic rollback.
Snowflake snapshots created with Liquibase Secure 5.1 are incompatible with earlier versions due to enhanced object type detection for TABLES and VIEWS. Regenerate all snapshots with 5.1 after upgrading to avoid false differences in diff and diff-changelog operations.

Available attributes

Attribute	Type	Description	Required
`catalogName`	String	Name of the catalog (database) containing the table	No
`schemaName`	String	Name of the schema containing the table	No
`tableName`	String	Name of the table to alter	Yes
`ifExists`	Boolean	Only execute if the table exists	No

alterCollation nested attributes

Attribute	Type	Description	Required
`newDefaultDdlCollation`	String	New default collation (e.g., utf8)	No*
`unsetDefaultDdlCollation`	Boolean	If true, unsets the default collation	No*

*Exactly one of newDefaultDdlCollation or unsetDefaultDdlCollation must be specified.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<databaseChangeLog
        xmlns="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog"
        xmlns:pro-snowflake="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro-snowflake"
        xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        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/pro-snowflake
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro-snowflake/liquibase-pro-snowflake-latest.xsd">

    <!-- Set default collation -->
    <changeSet id="set-collation" author="examples">
        <pro-snowflake:alterStandardTable tableName="MULTILINGUAL_DATA">
            <pro-snowflake:alterCollation newDefaultDdlCollation="utf8"/>
        </pro-snowflake:alterStandardTable>
    </changeSet>

    <!-- Unset default collation -->
    <changeSet id="unset-collation" author="examples">
        <pro-snowflake:alterStandardTable tableName="SIMPLE_DATA">
            <pro-snowflake:alterCollation unsetDefaultDdlCollation="true"/>
        </pro-snowflake:alterStandardTable>
    </changeSet>

</databaseChangeLog>

{
  "databaseChangeLog": [
    {
      "changeSet": {
        "id": "set-collation",
        "author": "examples",
        "changes": [
          {
            "alterStandardTable": {
              "tableName": "MULTILINGUAL_DATA",
              "alterCollation": {
                "newDefaultDdlCollation": "utf8"
              }
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "changeSet": {
        "id": "unset-collation",
        "author": "examples",
        "changes": [
          {
            "alterStandardTable": {
              "tableName": "SIMPLE_DATA",
              "alterCollation": {
                "unsetDefaultDdlCollation": true
              }
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

databaseChangeLog:
  # Set default collation
  - changeSet:
      id: set-collation
      author: examples
      changes:
        - alterStandardTable:
            tableName: MULTILINGUAL_DATA
            alterCollation:
              newDefaultDdlCollation: utf8

  # Unset default collation
  - changeSet:
      id: unset-collation
      author: examples
      changes:
        - alterStandardTable:
            tableName: SIMPLE_DATA
            alterCollation:
              unsetDefaultDdlCollation: true

--liquibase formatted sql

--changeset examples:set-default-collation
-- Set default collation
ALTER TABLE MYDB.PUBLIC.MULTILINGUAL_DATA SET DEFAULT_DDL_COLLATION = 'utf8';

--changeset examples:unset-default-collation
-- Unset default collation
ALTER TABLE MYDB.PUBLIC.SIMPLE_DATA UNSET DEFAULT_DDL_COLLATION;

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<databaseChangeLog
        xmlns="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog"
        xmlns:pro-snowflake="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro-snowflake"
        xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        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/pro-snowflake
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro-snowflake/liquibase-pro-snowflake-latest.xsd">

    <!-- Set default collation -->
    <changeSet id="set-collation" author="examples">
        <pro-snowflake:alterStandardTable tableName="MULTILINGUAL_DATA">
            <pro-snowflake:alterCollation newDefaultDdlCollation="utf8"/>
        </pro-snowflake:alterStandardTable>
    </changeSet>

    <!-- Unset default collation -->
    <changeSet id="unset-collation" author="examples">
        <pro-snowflake:alterStandardTable tableName="SIMPLE_DATA">
            <pro-snowflake:alterCollation unsetDefaultDdlCollation="true"/>
        </pro-snowflake:alterStandardTable>
    </changeSet>

</databaseChangeLog>

{
  "databaseChangeLog": [
    {
      "changeSet": {
        "id": "set-collation",
        "author": "examples",
        "changes": [
          {
            "alterStandardTable": {
              "tableName": "MULTILINGUAL_DATA",
              "alterCollation": {
                "newDefaultDdlCollation": "utf8"
              }
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "changeSet": {
        "id": "unset-collation",
        "author": "examples",
        "changes": [
          {
            "alterStandardTable": {
              "tableName": "SIMPLE_DATA",
              "alterCollation": {
                "unsetDefaultDdlCollation": true
              }
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

databaseChangeLog:
  # Set default collation
  - changeSet:
      id: set-collation
      author: examples
      changes:
        - alterStandardTable:
            tableName: MULTILINGUAL_DATA
            alterCollation:
              newDefaultDdlCollation: utf8

  # Unset default collation
  - changeSet:
      id: unset-collation
      author: examples
      changes:
        - alterStandardTable:
            tableName: SIMPLE_DATA
            alterCollation:
              unsetDefaultDdlCollation: true

--liquibase formatted sql

--changeset examples:set-default-collation
-- Set default collation
ALTER TABLE MYDB.PUBLIC.MULTILINGUAL_DATA SET DEFAULT_DDL_COLLATION = 'utf8';

--changeset examples:unset-default-collation
-- Unset default collation
ALTER TABLE MYDB.PUBLIC.SIMPLE_DATA UNSET DEFAULT_DDL_COLLATION;

PreviousAlter standard table - clustering NextAlter standard table - column

Alter Standard Table - Collation

Available attributes

alterCollation nested attributes

XML

JSON

YAML

SQL

More like this

alterDynamicTable alterCollation

Snowflake: ALTER TABLE