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Drop column only if it exists

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sakkara

Programmer
Jun 18, 2007
4
AU
Hi,
How do I drop a column within a table, ONLY if it exists?

I have hunted around but no luck in finding any solution.

Thank you.
 
U mean how to do it with pl function?
All information about database u can find in information_schema tables and views. With an IF statement and NOT FOUND 'constant' u can check if specified table contains given column. (see more on postgresql.org)
 
if you are using recent version of postgresql
and using plain SQL, just enclose it with savepoint

test@ws-dev:5432 test=> ALTER TABLE tbl DROP field;
ALTER TABLE
test@ws-dev:5432 test=*> SAVEPOINT test_1;
SAVEPOINT
test@ws-dev:5432 test=*> ALTER TABLE tbl DROP field;
ERROR: column "field" of relation "tbl" does not exist
test@ws-dev:5432 test=!> ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT test_1;
ROLLBACK
test@ws-dev:5432 test=*>

if it goes OK instead of ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT you do RELEASE SAVEPOINT

(in function, beside this method, you can use exceptions)
 
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