How to add/alter a new column in existing tea in azure synapses SQL database?

Question

I'm trying to add a new column in existing table in synapses database, but I did not find 'alter command' in synapse to add a new column. I see, in synapse SQL database, we have commands like create, drop, create and drop commands. Please help me in alter a table in synapse SQL DB.

Answer 1

Hi @17121A15A2-SAYA NAVYA, Please try with alter command;

-- Syntax for Azure Synapse Analytics and Parallel Data Warehouse

ALTER TABLE { database_name.schema_name.source_table_name | schema_name.source_table_name | source_table_name }
{
    ALTER COLUMN column_name
        {
            type_name [ ( precision [ , scale ] ) ]
            [ COLLATE Windows_collation_name ]
            [ NULL | NOT NULL ]
        }
    | ADD { <column_definition> | <column_constraint> FOR column_name} [ ,...n ]
    | DROP { COLUMN column_name | [CONSTRAINT] constraint_name } [ ,...n ]
    | REBUILD {
            [ PARTITION = ALL [ WITH ( <rebuild_option> ) ] ]
          | [ PARTITION = partition_number [ WITH ( <single_partition_rebuild_option> ] ]
      }
    | { SPLIT | MERGE } RANGE (boundary_value)
    | SWITCH [ PARTITION source_partition_number
        TO target_table_name [ PARTITION target_partition_number ] [ WITH ( TRUNCATE_TARGET = ON | OFF )
}
[;]

<column_definition>::=
{
    column_name
    type_name [ ( precision [ , scale ] ) ]
    [ <column_constraint> ]
    [ COLLATE Windows_collation_name ]
    [ NULL | NOT NULL ]
}

<column_constraint>::=
    [ CONSTRAINT constraint_name ] 
    {
        DEFAULT constant_expression
        | PRIMARY KEY NONCLUSTERED (column_name [ ,... n ]) NOT ENFORCED -- Applies to Azure Synapse Analytics only
        | UNIQUE (column_name [ ,... n ]) NOT ENFORCED -- Applies to Azure Synapse Analytics only
    }
<rebuild_option > ::=
{
    DATA_COMPRESSION = { COLUMNSTORE | COLUMNSTORE_ARCHIVE }
        [ ON PARTITIONS ( {<partition_number> [ TO <partition_number>] } [ , ...n ] ) ]
    | XML_COMPRESSION = { ON | OFF }
        [ ON PARTITIONS ( {<partition_number> [ TO <partition_number>] } [ , ...n ] ) ]
}

<single_partition_rebuild_option > ::=
{
    DATA_COMPRESSION = { COLUMNSTORE | COLUMNSTORE_ARCHIVE }
}