Changing an individual field

[Ike]

Suppose I have a table, and it is populated with many rows already. However,
I realise I structured something wrong in my table. I dont want to have to
go back and repopulate the entire table.

For example, suppose I have a field:

"inoutstatus INTEGER(3),"

Which I now realize should be :

"inoutstatus CHAR(1),"

Is there a way I can change the entire table without losing the other
records in each row? I can go back in and repopulate the inoutstatus fields,
but I really would like to know if there is merely some type of SQL command
I can issue to restructure the table this way.

Thanks, Ike

[Aggro]

Ike wrote:

Suppose I have a table, and it is populated with many rows already. However,
I realise I structured something wrong in my table. I dont want to have to
go back and repopulate the entire table.

For example, suppose I have a field:

"inoutstatus INTEGER(3),"

Which I now realize should be :

"inoutstatus CHAR(1),"

Is there a way I can change the entire table without losing the other
records in each row? I can go back in and repopulate the inoutstatus fields,
but I really would like to know if there is merely some type of SQL command
I can issue to restructure the table this way.

Atleast you can drop off one field and then add it to your table. But
afaik it will be at the end of your table. ( If the order of columns
happens to matter you(?) )

# remove old column
alter table [tablename] drop column inoutstatus;

# add new column
alter table [tablename] add column inoutstatus char(1);

I don't know if there is another way to do this.

[DCB]

"Aggro" <sp**********@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:Je***************@read3.inet.fi...
: Atleast you can drop off one field and then add it to your table. But
: afaik it will be at the end of your table. ( If the order of columns
: happens to matter you(?) )
:
: # remove old column
: alter table [tablename] drop column inoutstatus;
:
: # add new column
: alter table [tablename] add column inoutstatus char(1);
:
: I don't know if there is another way to do this.
Hi, back up first then try

ALTER TABLE
'tablename'
CHANGE
'inoutstatus' 'inoutstatus'
CHAR(1)
http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/ALTER_TABLE.html
hth

[DCB]

"Aggro" <sp**********@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:Je***************@read3.inet.fi...
: Atleast you can drop off one field and then add it to your table. But
: afaik it will be at the end of your table. ( If the order of columns
: happens to matter you(?) )
:
: # remove old column
: alter table [tablename] drop column inoutstatus;
:
: # add new column
: alter table [tablename] add column inoutstatus char(1);
:
: I don't know if there is another way to do this.
Hi, back up first then try

ALTER TABLE
'tablename'
CHANGE
'inoutstatus' 'inoutstatus'
CHAR(1)
http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/ALTER_TABLE.html
hth