PHP add column with no fields

Question

How do I add new column with no fields generated? It would be a new column added without the rows. I don't want NULL or empty values...

Is that possible?

This will create NULL values:

$sql = "ALTER TABLE translation ADD new_column VARCHAR( 255 )";

That will add a new column for each row, so the new column is added to every one. Do you want to add a new field without increase your table size? Maybe you could create a new 1:1 table. I usually do it with text fields witch could be null. — fmgonzalez
– fmgonzalez, Commented Jun 16, 2014 at 14:41
A TRUNCATE translation will help, but that's probably not what you want (please don't do that on live data). You can't add a column to a table without 'rows'. If you add a column to a table all existing rows will get the default value for that column (either NULL, '' or something else). In most situations NULL means 'no value', so live with that or go with a 1:1 table as fmgonzalez suggested. — Peter van der Wal
– Peter van der Wal, Commented Jun 16, 2014 at 14:49
because I have problem with this stackoverflow.com/questions/24210650/… — Grasper
– Grasper, Commented Jun 16, 2014 at 14:58

Konstantin Bodnia · Accepted Answer · 2014-06-16 14:42:59Z

0

You can use either "not null" or "default" thingie. Or them both.

ALTER TABLE `translation ` 
ADD COLUMN `new_column` VARCHAR(45) NOT NULL DEFAULT '1234' AFTER `courier_id`;

"NOT NULL" will prevent the column of having null state ever, and the "DEFAULT" will set a default value.

answered Jun 16, 2014 at 14:42

Konstantin Bodnia

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3 Comments

if it's not null it will be empty value, I don't want rows at all.

Why would you need a column in this case?