Altering a user-defined type

Adding columns to a user-defined type with the ALTER TYPE command.

The ALTER TYPE command can be used to add new columns to a user-defined type and to alter the data type of an existing column in a user-defined type.

Procedure

  • Add a middlename column of type text to the user-defined type cycling.fullname. 
    cqlsh> ALTER TYPE cycling.fullname ADD middlename text;

    This creates the column metadata and adds the column to the type schema. To verify, display the table ssystem.schema_usertypes.



  • A column can be renamed in either ALTER TABLE or ALTER TYPE. In ALTER TABLE, only primary key columns may be renamed. 
    cqlsh> ALTER TYPE cycling.fullname RENAME middlename TO middleinitial;