MySQL Alter Table - Drop Column

Last Updated: 25 July, 2023

To drop a column from a table in MySQL, we can use the ALTER TABLE statement with the DROP COLUMN clause.

The syntax and example are as follows:

Syntax:

  ALTER TABLE table_name
  DROP COLUMN column_name;

Replace table_name with the name of the table from which we want to remove the column, and column_name with the name of the column we wish to drop.

Example:

Suppose we have a table called students with the following structure:

Table: students

  +----+-------+-------+---------+------+------+--------+
  | id | name  | class | section | roll | age  | gender |
  +----+-------+-------+---------+------+------+--------+
  |  1 | Ram   | UKG   | B       |   18 |    6 | M      |
  |  2 | Pooja | PLAY  | A       |   38 |    3 | M      |
  |  3 | Raju  | UKG   | C       |    7 |    6 | M      |
  |  4 | Gopi  | LKG   | A       |    4 |    6 | M      |
  +----+-------+-------+---------+------+------+--------+
  5 rows in set (0.00 sec)

If we want to delete the column section from the students table, we will write the following query.

  ALTER TABLE students
  DROP COLUMN section;

After droping the column.

  +----+-------+-------+---------+------------+
  | id | name  | class | roll | age  | gender |
  +----+-------+-------+---------+------------+
  |  1 | Ram   | UKG   |   18 |    6 | M      |
  |  2 | Pooja | PLAY  |   38 |    3 | M      |
  |  3 | Raju  | UKG   |    7 |    6 | M      |
  |  4 | Gopi  | LKG   |    4 |    6 | M      |
  +----+-------+-------+---------+------+-----+
  5 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Please note that dropping a column will permanently remove the column and its data from the table. Make sure you have a backup or are certain about this action before executing the command. Additionally, if the column has any indexes, constraints, or dependencies, they will also be dropped along with the column.