what is the proper sql syntax for making an existing column in a table to autoincrement? the table is already populated. the column is already primary key. I tried alter table dba.transaction alter transaction_ID AUTOINCREMENT and alter table dba.transaction alter transaction_ID BigInt AUTOINCREMENT but both failed

asked 09 Nov '13, 23:42

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G_G
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I found the answer by using sybase central gui: alter the column in the target table for the autoincrement right click on the column and copy, paste to notepad and change the add to alter. voila: ALTER TABLE "dba"."transaction" alter "trans_ID" BIGINT NOT NULL DEFAULT AUTOINCREMENT

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answered 09 Nov '13, 23:48

G_G's gravatar image

G_G
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That's expected behaviour: AUTOINCREMENT is not a data type (say, other than IDENTITY or TIMESTAMP in MS SQL, AFAIK) but a column default, and so the syntax is the one to add/alter a default, as can been seen in the docs:

ALTER TABLE

Here, cf. the "ALTER column-name column-alteration" clause.

(10 Nov '13, 16:09) Volker Barth
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question asked: 09 Nov '13, 23:42

question was seen: 7,995 times

last updated: 10 Nov '13, 16:09