Re: Alter Table command

A copy of this was sent to jruper <jruper_at_cpcug.org> (if that email address didn't require changing) On Thu, 25 Feb 1999 23:55:12 GMT, you wrote:

>Can the Alter Table command be used to remove a column
>from an existing table? If so how do I do it?
>

not until Oracle8i (8.1).

Then you can:

• alter the table to set a column 'unused'. this is a flag deletion. column no longer appears in the data dictionary but storage is not reclaimed
• you can set >1 column 'ununsed'
• you can alter the table to drop unused. this reclaims the space (usefull when you have >1 column to drop. you can set 2 of them unused and then drop unused making only 1 pass on the table).
• you can alter the table and drop the column. this is the same as marking it unused and dropping unused.

>TIA
>
>Jim Ruper
 

Thomas Kyte
tkyte_at_us.oracle.com
Oracle Service Industries
Reston, VA USA

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