Rearrange columns in a Laravel migration file

Question

How do I re-arrange a column in a Laravel migration file for a MySQL database?

So far I have the following:

$table->date('foo')->after('bar')->change();

However, it does not seem to re-arrange the column.

Why not and how can I fix this?

btw: what you need to rearrange the column order? it makes no difference technically — Marcin Orlowski, Mar 03 '17 at 10:50
If you consider using `DB::raw` you can do something like `DB::raw('ALTER TABLE tablename CHANGE COLUMN foo foo date AFTER bar;')` — KuKeC, Mar 03 '17 at 10:51
@MarcinOrlowski The main issue for me is just organisation. For example, when I'm looking through the database in PHPMyAdmin, I want to see this specific column next to another as they are related. Else there may be a LOT of horizontal scrolling. — Yahya Uddin, Mar 03 '17 at 10:53
And i think you should remove `change();` and only leave `$table->date('foo')->after('bar');`. Because method `change();` allows you to modify an existing column to a new type, or modify the column's attributes, not order of column. — KuKeC, Mar 03 '17 at 10:58
@KuKec If you do that it will attempt to create a new column with the same name, giving the error: `Column already exists: 1060 Duplicate column name 'example' (SQL: alter table \`example\` add \`foo\` date not null after \`bar\`)` — Yahya Uddin, Mar 03 '17 at 11:12
Could you please try with first removing same column that you want to re-arrange and then create again with "after" modifier in column. If you have major database then for your safety please take backup then do. — , Mar 03 '17 at 11:46
Yes that would lose your data for that i mentioned like first export it and once done then again import your data again hope that would help you :) — , Mar 03 '17 at 11:50
Posible duplicate of https://stackoverflow.com/q/20340778/10539212 — Phantom1412, May 26 '21 at 04:10

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 03 '17 at 14:36

6

Can't see anything in Laravel Schema API that will allow you to rearrange columns. Your best bet will be to use raw SQL statement as below.

 DB::statement("ALTER TABLE table_name MODIFY COLUMN col_name col_definition AFTER another_col");

answered Mar 03 '17 at 14:36

Silvanus Matiku

149
1
6

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 18 '18 at 11:52

First Run following artisan command

php artisan make:migration reorganize_order_of_column_<col_name> --table=<table_name>

where col_name is name of column which you want to re-order and table_name if the name of your table

and then it will generate on new file in migration folder then update that file as following function

public function up()
    {
        DB::statement("ALTER TABLE <table_name> MODIFY COLUMN <col_name> <col_description> AFTER <second_col_name>");

    }

    public function down()
    {
        DB::statement("ALTER TABLE <table_name> MODIFY COLUMN <col_name> <col_description> AFTER <second_col_name>");
    }

table_name is the name of table which you want to modify
col_name is the name of column which you want to re-order
col_description is the type and length of column like VARCHAR(5),DATE
second_col_name is the name of second column by which we are going to reorder

Rearrange columns in a Laravel migration file

2 Answers2