add column before existing column?

Question

I have knowledge on sql server but now i worked on MySQL because of my company requirements. Is it possible to add a column before a specified column.

Actually i tried this logic

alter table marks add telugu int after typeofexam;

it works.when I'm trying to do the below logic

alter table marks add telugu int before typeofexam;

where marks is a table name, telugu a column name and typeofexam is a column name, it shows syntax errors.

Will you help me to get the logic.

Answer 1

Use the FIRST keyword:

alter table marks add telugu int FIRST;

Documentation: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/alter-table.html

The order isn't a big deal anyway; it's more of a human thing than a requirement. Most front ends will allow you to re order easily though.

Answer 2

Actually ordering of column does not matter in a database, you can always create a view which will display in the ordering of column you want.

Here is a nice blog which talks about them for SQL Server but the same is valid for MySQL as well. http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2008/04/08/sql-server-change-order-of-column-in-database-tables/