<\/span><\/h2>\nTo add a column with a default value in MySQL, you can use the `ALTER TABLE` statement along with the `DEFAULT` keyword. Here’s the syntax:<\/p>\n
ALTER TABLE table_name ADD column_name data_type DEFAULT default_value;<\/strong><\/p>\nLet’s break it down:<\/p>\n
– ALTER TABLE:<\/strong> This keyword is used to modify the structure of an existing table.
\n– table_name:<\/strong> Specify the name of the table to which you want to add the column.
\n– ADD column_name:<\/strong> This clause specifies that you want to add a new column to the table, along with its name.
\n– data_type:<\/strong> Specify the data type of the column, such as VARCHAR, INT, DATE, etc.
\n– DEFAULT default_value:<\/strong> This is where you specify the default value for the column.<\/p>\nLet’s consider an example to illustrate the process further. Suppose we have a table called `users` with existing columns `id` and `name`. We want to add a new column called `email` with a default value of “not available” for all records. The following query accomplishes that:<\/p>\n
“`sql
\nALTER TABLE users ADD email VARCHAR(255) DEFAULT ‘not available’;
\n“`<\/p>\n
Now, every time a new record is inserted into the `users` table without specifying a value for the `email` column, it will automatically be set to “not available”.<\/p>\n