From: Fujii Masao <fujii@postgresql.org>
Date: Thu, 5 Mar 2026 03:55:52 +0000 (+0900)
Subject: doc: Clarify that COLUMN is optional in ALTER TABLE ... ADD/DROP COLUMN.
X-Git-Url: http://git.ipfire.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?a=commitdiff_plain;h=9b0e5bd5320f95cfb35f0402c0f4bb7a1d3ecb0f;p=thirdparty%2Fpostgresql.git

doc: Clarify that COLUMN is optional in ALTER TABLE ... ADD/DROP COLUMN.

In ALTER TABLE ... ADD/DROP COLUMN, the COLUMN keyword is optional. However,
part of the documentation could be read as if COLUMN were required, which may
mislead users about the command syntax.

This commit updates the ALTER TABLE documentation to clearly state that
COLUMN is optional for ADD and DROP.

Also this commit adds regression tests covering ALTER TABLE ... ADD/DROP
without the COLUMN keyword.

Backpatch to all supported versions.

Author: Chao Li <lic@highgo.com>
Reviewed-by: Robert Treat <rob@xzilla.net>
Reviewed-by: Fujii Masao <masao.fujii@gmail.com>
Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/CAEoWx2n6ShLMOnjOtf63TjjgGbgiTVT5OMsSOFmbjGb6Xue1Bw@mail.gmail.com
Backpatch-through: 14
---

diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/alter_table.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/alter_table.sgml
index aab2c6eb19f..00817e90360 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/alter_table.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/alter_table.sgml
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ WITH ( MODULUS <replaceable class="parameter">numeric_literal</replaceable>, REM
 
   <variablelist>
    <varlistentry id="sql-altertable-desc-add-column">
-    <term><literal>ADD COLUMN [ IF NOT EXISTS ]</literal></term>
+    <term><literal>ADD [ COLUMN ] [ IF NOT EXISTS ]</literal></term>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       This form adds a new column to the table, using the same syntax as
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ WITH ( MODULUS <replaceable class="parameter">numeric_literal</replaceable>, REM
    </varlistentry>
 
    <varlistentry id="sql-altertable-desc-drop-column">
-    <term><literal>DROP COLUMN [ IF EXISTS ]</literal></term>
+    <term><literal>DROP [ COLUMN ] [ IF EXISTS ]</literal></term>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       This form drops a column from a table.  Indexes and
diff --git a/src/test/regress/expected/alter_table.out b/src/test/regress/expected/alter_table.out
index ac1a7345d0f..5998c670aa3 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/expected/alter_table.out
+++ b/src/test/regress/expected/alter_table.out
@@ -3849,6 +3849,16 @@ Referenced by:
 ALTER TABLE test_add_column
 	ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS c5 SERIAL CHECK (c5 > 10);
 NOTICE:  column "c5" of relation "test_add_column" already exists, skipping
+ALTER TABLE test_add_column
+	ADD c6 integer; -- omit COLUMN
+ALTER TABLE test_add_column
+	ADD IF NOT EXISTS c6 integer;
+NOTICE:  column "c6" of relation "test_add_column" already exists, skipping
+ALTER TABLE test_add_column
+	DROP c6; -- omit COLUMN
+ALTER TABLE test_add_column
+	DROP IF EXISTS c6;
+NOTICE:  column "c6" of relation "test_add_column" does not exist, skipping
 \d test_add_column*
                             Table "public.test_add_column"
  Column |  Type   | Collation | Nullable |                   Default                   
diff --git a/src/test/regress/sql/alter_table.sql b/src/test/regress/sql/alter_table.sql
index 417202430a5..d6b6381ae5c 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/sql/alter_table.sql
+++ b/src/test/regress/sql/alter_table.sql
@@ -2331,6 +2331,14 @@ ALTER TABLE test_add_column
 \d test_add_column
 ALTER TABLE test_add_column
 	ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS c5 SERIAL CHECK (c5 > 10);
+ALTER TABLE test_add_column
+	ADD c6 integer; -- omit COLUMN
+ALTER TABLE test_add_column
+	ADD IF NOT EXISTS c6 integer;
+ALTER TABLE test_add_column
+	DROP c6; -- omit COLUMN
+ALTER TABLE test_add_column
+	DROP IF EXISTS c6;
 \d test_add_column*
 DROP TABLE test_add_column;
 \d test_add_column*