How to add a column with a default value to an existing table in SQL Server

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Krishnapriya Rajeev · Answer

To add a column with a default value to an existing table in SQL Server, we can use the ALTER TABLE statement with the ADD COLUMN clause. Here's the basic syntax:

ALTER TABLE table_name
ADD column_name data_type DEFAULT default_value;

In this syntax, table_name is the name of the table to which we want to add the column, column_name is the name of the new column, data_type is the data type of the column, and default_value is the default value that we want to assign to the column.

Here's an example SQL query that demonstrates how we can add a column with a default value to an existing table:

ALTER TABLE customers
ADD membership_status VARCHAR(20) DEFAULT 'Regular';

This query will add a new column named membership_status to the customer's table with a data type of VARCHAR(20), and a default value of Regular. If a new row is inserted into the table without specifying a value for the membership_status column, it will automatically be assigned the value Regular.

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How to add a column with a default value to an existing table in SQL Server

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