Why do i need to specify the column type when removing? (migrations)

rubyonrails-core
1

Hello guys,

I’ve been using Ruby for a long time now and a simple doubt always make me wonder…

Why do i need do specify the column type when removing a column?

I always do the following when removing a column:

remove_column :table, :column, :type

But the thing is…isn’t the column name unique? Or can i have multiple columns with same name but different types?

Sorry if it’s a stupid question tho :stuck_out_tongue:

Thanks

2

I think that only happens when you use def change so that when you reverse the migration it knows how to add the column back.

I think if you do the old migration style of def up / def down you don’t need to specify the column type in your remove_column

3

Hi Gabriel,

The type parameter is actually ignored when removing a column — see the documentation for remove_column here which specifies that as well.

The docs also indicate why you might want to include it anyway — if your migration is implemented using a change method instead of up and down methods, that parameter indicates what type of column should be added back if you revert the migration.

Hope that helps,

T.J.

P.S. — This mailing list (rubyonrails-core) is intended for discussion about development of the framework itself, not usage of it.

For questions like this one that are not issues with Rails itself, please post to the rubyonrails-talk mailing list (http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk) or somewhere like StackOverflow using the ruby-on-rails tag (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/ruby-on-rails). You can also drop in to the #rubyonrails channel on irc.freenode.net for realtime help. You’ll be more likely to get a quick answer in the future using one of those options.

4

Hi Schuck,

Thank you for your response, now that makes sense :slight_smile:

Sorry about posting on the wrong group, next time i will post on Rals Talk.