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sqlamazon-redshiftddl

Redshift: add column if not exists

The following works in Postgres 9.6 but not in Redshift:

ALTER TABLE stats
    ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS panel_exit timestamp;

Can the same functionality be achieved in Redshift?

Solution

  • There is no Amazon Redshift command equivalent to ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS.

    See: ALTER TABLE documentation

    To replicate this functionality, your application would first need to query the table metadata and then make the decision whether to issue the ADD COLUMN command.