How to Add a MySQL Column Only if It Doesn't Exist?

Adding a Column to a MySQL Table if It Does Not Exist

In MySQL, you can dynamically add a column to a table only if it does not already exist. There are several approaches to achieve this safely.

Stored Procedure Method:

DELIMITER $$

DROP PROCEDURE IF EXISTS add_column_if_not_exists $$
CREATE PROCEDURE add_column_if_not_exists()
BEGIN
  IF NOT EXISTS (
    SELECT *
    FROM information_schema.COLUMNS
    WHERE COLUMN_NAME = 'new_column' AND TABLE_NAME = 'my_table'
  ) THEN
    ALTER TABLE my_table ADD COLUMN new_column <column_definition>;
  END IF;
END $$

CALL add_column_if_not_exists() $$

DELIMITER ;

This stored procedure uses IF to check whether the column already exists and only adds the column if it does not.

Conditional ALTER TABLE Statement (MySQL 8 ):

ALTER TABLE my_table ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS new_column <column_definition>;

This statement is supported in MySQL 8 and later and can add a column if it does not exist without the need for a stored procedure.

Example:

Consider the example table:

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `my_table` (
  `id` INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `name` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL
);

To add the age column if it does not exist, you can use the following:

DELIMITER $$

DROP PROCEDURE IF EXISTS add_age_column $$
CREATE PROCEDURE add_age_column()
BEGIN
  IF NOT EXISTS (
    SELECT *
    FROM information_schema.COLUMNS
    WHERE COLUMN_NAME = 'age' AND TABLE_NAME = 'my_table'
  ) THEN
    ALTER TABLE my_table ADD COLUMN age INT NOT NULL DEFAULT 0;
  END IF;
END $$

CALL add_age_column() $$

DELIMITER ;

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