SOLVED: Is ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN a time-consuming operation ?

Hi all,

thanks for your help. I mistakenly believed that number of columns in the row header always equals no of table's columns. In fact, it doesn't. It was my mistake.

Thanks again
Ed

>
>
> If the new column is nullable, it should very little time,
> since all that happens is an update to the dictionary. If
> it is not null, then the column will have to be physically
> added to each row with a value.
>
> >>> EShevtsov_at_flagship.ru 04/05/01 07:15AM >>>
> Hello List
>
> We are going to change structure of a big table (more than
> 250.000.000
> rows).
> We need to add a column with NUMBER type.
> I'm unclear how Oracle do this operation.
> Does it mean that Oracle have to read and reformat all table
> blocks in order to update each row header?
> If yes, I can suggest that estimation of the operation's
> time is about
> time of Full Table Scan on the table.
> Is it correct? Please explain.
>
> Ed

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Author: Shevtsov, Eduard
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