SQL Server databases store their data and objects in files. Each database has at least one data file (and a log file), but it’s not restricted to just one – it could have many data files. If you ever find yourself in the situation where you need to remove a data file from a database, you’ll need to empty that file first, before removing it.

But don’t worry, emptying a file doesn’t actually delete the data. It simply migrates the file’s data to other files within the same filegroup.

The examples below demonstrate how to empty a data file, then remove it from the database using Transact-SQL.

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In SQL Server, when using Transact-SQL, reducing the size of a data file requires a different syntax to increasing it. To reduce a file size using T-SQL, use the DBCC SHRINKFILE command, and provide the name of the data file along with the size you’d like to reduce it to.

Below are examples of reducing the file size of a data file in SQL Server using T-SQL.

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If you’re using the SQL Server Management Studio GUI, you can increase the size of a data file by right-clicking on the relevant database, selecting Properties, selecting Files under Database Properties, then increasing the value in the Initial Size (MB) column for the applicable data file.

If you’re using Transact-SQL however, you can increase the data file’s size by using the ALTER DATABASE statement with the MODIFY FILE argument. The following example demonstrates how to do this.

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When using SQL Server, if you want to change the name of a database, you can do this by using a GUI (like SSMS) or by using Transact-SQL.

If using a GUI, you can right-click on the database name and click Rename to rename the database (you might need to set the database to single-user mode first).

If you’re doing this using T-SQL, the examples on this page should help you out.

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In SQL Server, you can create, modify, and remove database objects using a graphical user interface (like using the GUI tools in SQL Server Management Studio), or you can use Transact-SQL to do the same tasks. In fact, the GUI tools actually use T-SQL behind the scenes to perform these tasks.

When using Transact-SQL, you can remove a column from a table by using the ALTER TABLE statement. This statement allows you to change a table’s definition by specifying exactly what changes you require. In our case, we require the removal of a column.

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When you create a database table, you specify all columns along with their data types. Once created, there’s not normally any intention of changing these data types. After all, whoever designed the schema would have put a lot of thought into what data type each and every column should accept.

However, we all know that things can change. Despite our best efforts at trying to foresee every possible scenario that may hit our database, sometimes that’s not enough.

So what do we do if we need to use Transact-SQL to change the data type of a column in SQL Server?

We use the ALTER TABLE statement to change it of course.

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If you’re using SQL Server, and you want to use T-SQL to change the size of an existing column, this article can help.

By “changing the size of an existing column”, I mean changing the data size. For example, say you have a varchar(255) but you want to increase its size to varchar(500). Here’s what you need to do in that case.

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When you create a table in SQL Server using T-SQL, you specify all the columns for that table, along with their data types, any constraints, etc.

But what happens if one day you decide to add a new column to that table? How do you add the new column to the existing table without creating the table again? After all, dropping the table and starting again is usually not an option, as the table will already contain data, and you probably don’t want to have to backup all that data and re-insert it after dropping and creating the table.

The answer is: The ALTER TABLE statement.

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