Rename and add column in same query in PostgreSQL - postgresql

Let's say I have a table Student with just 2 columns - id bigint, name varchar(50).
I'm trying to rename it and add column in a same single query in PostgreSQL version 11.16 like below:
ALTER TABLE student
RENAME COLUMN name TO fullname,
ADD COLUMN roll_no varchar(30);
But I got this error:
Syntax error at or near "ADD"
Is it possible? If not, why?

Actually, that is not possible. I got this from the StackOverflow answer. One RENAME is possible for only one statement. Even multiple RENAME commands are also not possible. Here is the postgres manual.

Related

"Attributes specified for column are incompatible with existing column definition"

It's been a while.
Using DB2 10 for z/OS, I've been asked to change a specific column in a table from decimal(7,2) to decimal(7,4). Sounds easy, right?
alter table MySchema.MyTable
alter column myColumn
set data type decimal(7,4);
But, DB2 responds with this error: "Attributes specified for column 'MYCOLUMN' are incompatible with existing column definition."
I had thought that converting from decimal(7,2) to decimal(7,4) would be pretty straightforward, but DB2 disagrees.
Outside of dropping the table and recreating it from scratch, what alternatives do I have?
Thanks in advance!
Dave
The reason Db2 doesn't like that change is you're going from from 99999.99 to 999.9999
Is that really what you want? Going from (7,2) to (9,4) would just add two more decimal places without losing any data and should be allowed by the Db.
Db2 for i gives a warning, but allows you to ignore the warning...
Create a new column ALTER ADD COLUMN of the right type, use an UPDATE to populate it, ALTER DROP COLUMN the old column. RENAME COLUMN so set the name of the original column.

How to rename a PostgreSQL table by prefixing an underscore?

I have a database which relies on a PostgreSQL system and I am maintaining it so I want to change tables and overall scheme. For this I thought of renaming the older tables so they have an underscore as a prefix. But this is not working:
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS _my_table; -- table does not exists, this does nothing
ALTER TABLE my_table
RENAME TO _my_table;
The result of the query is the following:
NOTICE: table "_my_table" does not exist, skipping ERROR:
type "_my_table" already exists
********** Error **********
ERROR: type "_my_table" already exists SQL state: 42710
The '_my_table' table is a fake name, but this error is reproduced by actually creating a '_my_table' table and running the same script above.
I am using pgAdmin III to access the database tables and making use of it's 'rename' operation results in the same error.
The postgresql documentation for the alter table method does not tell me explicitly about this particular problem: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.3/static/sql-altertable.html
Do I really need to use a prefix like 'backup' instead of '_' ? Or would it be possible to rename it, my only interest is to maintain the information in the table whilst having the minimal changes to the table name.
You cannot simply put an underscore in front of the existing table name because every table has an associated type that is... a leading underscore before the table name. You can verify this in the pg_catalog.pg_type table. Having a table name start with an underscore is not the problem, but the internal procedure is that a new table is created physically from the old table and only when the old table is no longer in use by other processes will the old table, and its associated type, be deleted. Hence the error referencing the type (and not the relation).
So if you really want to keep the old name with an underscore, you should first ALTER TABLE to some temp name and then ALTER TABLE to the underscore + original name. Or simply use another prefix...
ERROR: type "_my_table" already exists
Both tables and types are stored in the internal table pg_class. A unique name is required, that's why you get this error message.

How to check a column exists in a table in Intersystems Cache SQL?

I've noticed that while I can use %dictionary.compiledclass to get a table with schema names and table names, which allow querying for their existence, I cannot do the same for columns. I have yet to find the command that allows verifying whether a column exists or not, or retrieving numerous column names using LIKE "prefix%".
Is there even such a thing? Or an alternative?
You can use %Dictionary.CompiledProperty table and SqlFieldName column of that table.
For example to find out tables that have column 'ColumnName' you can use this query:
select parent->SqlTableName
from %dictionary.compiledproperty
where SqlFieldName='ColumnName'
Execute this Query :
select * from %dictionary.compiledproperty Where parent='TableName' and SqlFieldName='ColumnName'
Check Row Count value ,0 not exist

SELECT using schema name

I have an issue with psql. I am trying to select the records from a table but psql acts like the table doesnt exist. I have tried finding it and found that it resides in the 'public' schema. I have tried selecting from this table like so:
highways=# SELECT * FROM public.CLUSTER_128000M;
This does not work stating the following:
ERROR: relation 'public.CLUSTER_128000M' does not exist
I know that it definetly exists and that it is definetly in the 'public' schema so how can I perform a select statement on it?
Edit:
This was caused by useing FME to create my tables. As a result FME used " marks on the table names making them case sensitive. To reverse this see the comments below.
This issue was caused by the third party software FME using quotes around the names of the tables at time of creation. The solution to make the tables useable again was to use the following command:
ALTER TABLE "SOME_NAME" RENAME TO some_name

Can't change datatype of column in postgres

I'm trying to change the datatype of a column to varchar but get the following error
ERROR: syntax error at or near "type" at character 40
My code looks as follows
alter table n_logs alter column action type varchar(100);
I'm running PostgreSQL 7.4.13 (Yeah, I know I need to upgrade)
I don't think you can do that:
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/7.4/interactive/ddl-alter.html
You should split it into 3 steps
add new column
copy values from 1st column to 2nd
drop old column
I know you said you already found a solution, but your command would have worked if you took out the "action" keyword, just like this:
ALTER TABLE table_name_here
ALTER COLUMN column_name_here type varchar(100);
The SQL above worked for me, thanks.