How to add column at a certain position?

Question

My code :

mDb.execSQL("ALTER TABLE " + table_name + 
            " ADD COLUMN " + column_name + " text");

The column is added to last position :

Column1	Column2	Column3	Column4	Column5	NewAddedColumn6

Is it possible to add a column between Column3 and Column4?

Column1	Column2	Column3	NewAddedColumn6	Column4	Column5

That's an [XY problem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XY_problem) (question about an attempted solution rather than the actual problem); describe what you are trying to achieve by doing this instead. — user4157124, Nov 11 '22 at 18:14

score 27 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 11 '22 at 09:46

27

The ADD COLUMN syntax is used to add a new column to an existing table. The new column is always appended to the end of the list of existing columns.

Hence, the answer to your question is NO.

However, there is a workaround. See this answer.

edited Nov 11 '22 at 09:46

Adil Hussain

answered Mar 31 '14 at 00:36

Ravinder Reddy

2

why do you need to create a column between Column3 and Column4 (whatever it means) ? – pskink Mar 31 '14 at 06:31
though it's really late and probably nobody cares but here is the reason why I needed this. User can create dynamically tables and list/render them with all columns. If a user later on decides this table need one additional column it will get displayed at the last position. But maybe this information was much more useful if it was next to another column. This issue became even worse when you add new items/references into the table, the workflow was very inconveniently interrupted, scrolling up/down. Last but not least same issue applied to the Excel export. – Tower Jimmy Mar 27 '15 at 02:38
Position of a field might require only for display purposes. This can be easily be achieved by selecting specific columns in specific positions. `select * from emp` will result the default column position defined. Where as `select empno, empname, deptno, salary, etc from emp` will re-order the resulting column position, which would be very handy for *reporting* type of views. For `Excel` type of exports too explicit selection of columns will help to get your desired result. – Ravinder Reddy Mar 27 '15 at 06:10

1 Answers1