Changing the datatype of a column will *not* alter the column's data
itself - just Hive's metadata for that table. To modify the type of
existing data:
1. Create a new table with the desired structure
2. Copy the existing table into the new table - applying any necessary
type casting
3. Drop the old table and rename the new one to the old one's name
See more info here -
https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/Hive/LanguageManual+DDL#LanguageManualDDL-ChangeColumnName%2FType%2FPosition%2FComment
Jon
On 7/18/13 2:45 AM, Manickam P wrote:
Hi experts,
I have created a table in hive and loaded the data into it. now i want
to change the datatype of one particular column.
Do i need to drop and move the file again to hive?
will it work fine if i just alter the data type alone in hive?
Thanks,
Manickam P
