Proper Query Building

Databases
1

Hi,

I’ve been wondering, what should I use, what is more professionally correct:

ALTER TABLE `table_name` DROP `column_name`

or

ALTER TABLE `table_name` DROP [COLOR="#0000FF"]COLUMN[/COLOR] `column_name`

Also,

ALTER TABLE `table_name` ADD `column_name` VARCHAR(250)

or

ALTER TABLE `table_name` ADD [COLOR="#0000FF"]COLUMN[/COLOR] `column_name` VARCHAR(250)

All of the above cases work just fine, is there anything to be kept in mind though? Older versions of MySQL lack of support, for instance? Anyone please shed some light, thank you!

2

in both of the cases you cited, the keyword COLUMN is optional and default

this is true not just in the mysql database product but in standard sql as well, so you’ll be just fine whichever way you write it, even if you use some other database product

but me, i would always write it, just to self-document the statement, that you aren’t adding something else to the table that’s not a column