On Mar 28, 2006, at 8:40 PM, Robert Treat wrote:
Depends on how much data you need to modify. For small tables, I stick with ALTER TABLE because it's a lot cleaner/easier. For larger tables, you might want to CREATE TABLE AS SELECT ..., or maybe copy out and copy
back in.

This seems backwards to me. On larger tables I tend to favor alter table for adding/dropping columns since the table doesn't need to be rewritten, and on smaller tables I'd be more likely to use CTAS (although even then still
pretty unlikely)

It depends on what exactly you're doing. For example, if you're adding a new field and have to populate it with data, you end up rewriting the entire table, but in a way that leads to considerable bloat. Of course if you can get away without re-writing the entire table you absolutely want to go that route.
--
Jim C. Nasby, Sr. Engineering Consultant      [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Pervasive Software      http://pervasive.com    work: 512-231-6117
vcard: http://jim.nasby.net/pervasive.vcf       cell: 512-569-9461



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