Today's question comes from Jeremy C.:
SQL 6.5 -- how do you delete a column from a table? Jeremy C.
Jeremy,
Let's assume your original table is called foo. To remove a column from
foo, you'll need to perform the following steps:
- Create a new table, say,
foo_new.
- Use an
INSERT..SELECTto copy the data fromfootofoo_new.
- Drop
foo.
- Rename
foo_newtofoo:EXEC sp_rename foo_new, foo
That's all there is to it. If there is a lot of data in the original table, be careful that your log is sized appropriately, batch the inserts, or bcp the data out of the original table and back into the new table.
Or consider upgrading to SQL 7.0. ALTER TABLE DROP COLUMN sure is nice! :)
Sean