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Subject: Re: Feature Proposal: Column-Level DELETE Operation in SQL
From: Christophe Pettus <xof@thebuild.com>
In-Reply-To: <CAD2voTQMUmNCKBok-_HvYLqFNECRWNkvqPruq0NcsFgd6g-Odw@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2025 09:47:50 -0700
Cc: pgsql-general@postgresql.org
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Message-Id: <A4759080-C019-4017-A2EB-2A032D5008A8@thebuild.com>
References: <CAD2voTQMUmNCKBok-_HvYLqFNECRWNkvqPruq0NcsFgd6g-Odw@mail.gmail.com>
To: Abhishek Hatgine <hatgineabhishek99@gmail.com>
Archived-At: <https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/A4759080-C019-4017-A2EB-2A032D5008A8%40thebuild.com>
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> On Apr 21, 2025, at 09:53, Abhishek Hatgine =
<hatgineabhishek99@gmail.com> wrote:
> However, there=E2=80=99s no specific, expressive way to delete the =
value of a column directly. The typical workaround is to use:
> UPDATE Customers SET Address =3D NULL WHERE CustomerID =3D 103;

I'm not sure I agree that's unexpressive.  When you consider the =
relational model, it's not clear to me what "deleting the value of a =
column" means.  It could be:

1. Removing the current value, which begs the question of "replacing it =
with what?"
2. Dropping the column, for which we already have ALTER TABLE ... DROP =
COLUMN.

Can you give a bit more detail about what the state of the table is when =
you have "deleted the value of a column directly"?=