Reference
Version · 6.0
Change Automation Reference

dropColumn

Last updated: August 12, 2026

The dropColumn Change Type drops existing columns.To drop a single column, use the simple form of this element where the tableName and columnName are specified as attributes.

To drop several columns, specify the tableName as an attribute, and then specify a set of nested <column> tags. If nested <column> tags are present, the columnName attribute will be ignored. Alternatively, you can use separate dropColumn statements to drop more than one column.

Available attributes

Name	Description	Required for	Supports	Since
`catalogName`	Name of the catalog		all	3.0
`columnName`	Name of the column to drop, if dropping a single column. Ignored if nested columns are defined		all
`schemaName`	Name of the schema		all
`tableName`	Name of the table containing the column to drop	all	all

Nested tags

Name

Description

Required for

Supports

Multiple allowed

column

Columns to be dropped if dropping multiple columns. If this is populated, the columnName attribute is ignored.

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

all

yes

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	Supported	No
Sybase	Supported	No
Sybase Anywhere	Supported	No

dropColumn examples

--liquibase formatted sql

--changeset liquibase-docs:dropColumn-example
ALTER  TABLE  cat.person  DROP  COLUMN  address;

databaseChangeLog:
-  changeSet:
    id:  dropColumn-example
    author:  liquibase-docs
    changes:
    -  dropColumn:
        catalogName:  cat
        columnName:  id
        columns:
        -  column:
            name:  address
        schemaName:  public
        tableName:  person

{
    "databaseChangeLog": [
        {
            "changeSet": {
                "id": "dropColumn-example",
                "author": "liquibase-docs",
                "changes": [
                    {
                        "dropColumn": {
                            "catalogName": "cat",
                            "columnName": "id",
                            "columns": [
                                {
                                    "column": {
                                        "name": "address"
                                    }
                                }
                            ],
                            "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="dropColumn-example">
        <dropColumn catalogName="cat"
                       columnName="id"
                       schemaName="public"
                       tableName="person">
            <column name="address1"/>
        </dropColumn>
        <dropColumn catalogName="cat"
	                   columnName="id"
	                   schemaName="public"
	                   tableName="person">
	        <column name="address2"/>
        </dropColumn>
    </changeSet>

</databaseChangeLog>

--liquibase formatted sql

--changeset liquibase-docs:dropColumn-example
ALTER  TABLE  cat.person  DROP  COLUMN  address;

databaseChangeLog:
-  changeSet:
    id:  dropColumn-example
    author:  liquibase-docs
    changes:
    -  dropColumn:
        catalogName:  cat
        columnName:  id
        columns:
        -  column:
            name:  address
        schemaName:  public
        tableName:  person

{
    "databaseChangeLog": [
        {
            "changeSet": {
                "id": "dropColumn-example",
                "author": "liquibase-docs",
                "changes": [
                    {
                        "dropColumn": {
                            "catalogName": "cat",
                            "columnName": "id",
                            "columns": [
                                {
                                    "column": {
                                        "name": "address"
                                    }
                                }
                            ],
                            "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="dropColumn-example">
        <dropColumn catalogName="cat"
                       columnName="id"
                       schemaName="public"
                       tableName="person">
            <column name="address1"/>
        </dropColumn>
        <dropColumn catalogName="cat"
	                   columnName="id"
	                   schemaName="public"
	                   tableName="person">
	        <column name="address2"/>
        </dropColumn>
    </changeSet>

</databaseChangeLog>

PreviousDisableTrigger NextDropFunction

dropColumn

Available attributes

Nested tags

Database support

dropColumn examples

SQL example

YAML example

JSON example

XML example