Add a column using a query job

Add a new column to a BigQuery table while appending rows using a query job with an explicit destination table.

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For detailed documentation that includes this code sample, see the following:

Code sample

Go

Before trying this sample, follow the Go setup instructions in the BigQuery quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the BigQuery Go API reference documentation.

To authenticate to BigQuery, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"

	"cloud.google.com/go/bigquery"
)

// createTableAndWidenQuery demonstrates how the schema of a table can be modified to add columns by appending
// query results that include the new columns.
func createTableAndWidenQuery(projectID, datasetID, tableID string) error {
	// projectID := "my-project-id"
	// datasetID := "mydataset"
	// tableID := "mytable"
	ctx := context.Background()
	client, err := bigquery.NewClient(ctx, projectID)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("bigquery.NewClient: %w", err)
	}
	defer client.Close()

	// First, we create a sample table.
	sampleSchema := bigquery.Schema{
		{Name: "full_name", Type: bigquery.StringFieldType, Required: true},
		{Name: "age", Type: bigquery.IntegerFieldType, Required: true},
	}
	original := &bigquery.TableMetadata{
		Schema: sampleSchema,
	}
	tableRef := client.Dataset(datasetID).Table(tableID)
	if err := tableRef.Create(ctx, original); err != nil {
		return err
	}
	// Our table has two columns.  We'll introduce a new favorite_color column via
	// a subsequent query that appends to the table.
	q := client.Query("SELECT \"Timmy\" as full_name, 85 as age, \"Blue\" as favorite_color")
	q.SchemaUpdateOptions = []string{"ALLOW_FIELD_ADDITION"}
	q.QueryConfig.Dst = client.Dataset(datasetID).Table(tableID)
	q.WriteDisposition = bigquery.WriteAppend
	q.Location = "US"
	job, err := q.Run(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	_, err = job.Wait(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	return nil
}

Node.js

Before trying this sample, follow the Node.js setup instructions in the BigQuery quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the BigQuery Node.js API reference documentation.

To authenticate to BigQuery, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

// Import the Google Cloud client libraries
const {BigQuery} = require('@google-cloud/bigquery');

// Instantiate client
const bigquery = new BigQuery();

async function addColumnQueryAppend() {
  // Adds a new column to a BigQuery table while appending rows via a query job.

  /**
   * TODO(developer): Uncomment the following lines before running the sample.
   */
  // const datasetId = 'my_dataset';
  // const tableId = 'my_table';

  // Retrieve destination table reference
  const [table] = await bigquery.dataset(datasetId).table(tableId).get();
  const destinationTableRef = table.metadata.tableReference;

  // In this example, the existing table contains only the 'name' column.
  // 'REQUIRED' fields cannot  be added to an existing schema,
  // so the additional column must be 'NULLABLE'.
  const query = `SELECT name, year
    FROM \`bigquery-public-data.usa_names.usa_1910_2013\`
    WHERE state = 'TX'
    LIMIT 10`;

  // Set load job options
  const options = {
    query: query,
    schemaUpdateOptions: ['ALLOW_FIELD_ADDITION'],
    writeDisposition: 'WRITE_APPEND',
    destinationTable: destinationTableRef,
    // Location must match that of the dataset(s) referenced in the query.
    location: 'US',
  };

  const [job] = await bigquery.createQueryJob(options);
  console.log(`Job ${job.id} started.`);

  // Wait for the query to finish
  const [rows] = await job.getQueryResults();
  console.log(`Job ${job.id} completed.`);

  // Print the results
  console.log('Rows:');
  rows.forEach(row => console.log(row));
}

PHP

Before trying this sample, follow the PHP setup instructions in the BigQuery quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the BigQuery PHP API reference documentation.

To authenticate to BigQuery, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

use Google\Cloud\BigQuery\BigQueryClient;

/**
 * Append a column using a query job.
 *
 * @param string $projectId The project Id of your Google Cloud Project.
 * @param string $datasetId The BigQuery dataset ID.
 * @param string $tableId The BigQuery table ID.
 */
function add_column_query_append(
    string $projectId,
    string $datasetId,
    string $tableId
): void {
    $bigQuery = new BigQueryClient([
      'projectId' => $projectId,
    ]);
    $dataset = $bigQuery->dataset($datasetId);
    $table = $dataset->table($tableId);

    // In this example, the existing table contains only the 'Name' and 'Title'.
    // A new column 'Description' gets added after the query job.

    // Define query
    $query = sprintf('SELECT "John" as name, "Unknown" as title, "Dummy person" as description;');

    // Set job configs
    $queryJobConfig = $bigQuery->query($query);
    $queryJobConfig->destinationTable($table);
    $queryJobConfig->schemaUpdateOptions(['ALLOW_FIELD_ADDITION']);
    $queryJobConfig->writeDisposition('WRITE_APPEND');

    // Run query with query job configuration
    $bigQuery->runQuery($queryJobConfig);

    // Print all the columns
    $columns = $table->info()['schema']['fields'];
    printf('The columns in the table are ');
    foreach ($columns as $column) {
        printf('%s ', $column['name']);
    }
}

Python

Before trying this sample, follow the Python setup instructions in the BigQuery quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the BigQuery Python API reference documentation.

To authenticate to BigQuery, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

from google.cloud import bigquery

# Construct a BigQuery client object.
client = bigquery.Client()

# TODO(developer): Set table_id to the ID of the destination table.
# table_id = "your-project.your_dataset.your_table_name"

# Retrieves the destination table and checks the length of the schema.
table = client.get_table(table_id)  # Make an API request.
print("Table {} contains {} columns".format(table_id, len(table.schema)))

# Configures the query to append the results to a destination table,
# allowing field addition.
job_config = bigquery.QueryJobConfig(
    destination=table_id,
    schema_update_options=[bigquery.SchemaUpdateOption.ALLOW_FIELD_ADDITION],
    write_disposition=bigquery.WriteDisposition.WRITE_APPEND,
)

# Start the query, passing in the extra configuration.
client.query_and_wait(
    # In this example, the existing table contains only the 'full_name' and
    # 'age' columns, while the results of this query will contain an
    # additional 'favorite_color' column.
    'SELECT "Timmy" as full_name, 85 as age, "Blue" as favorite_color;',
    job_config=job_config,
)  # Make an API request and wait for job to complete.

# Checks the updated length of the schema.
table = client.get_table(table_id)  # Make an API request.
print("Table {} now contains {} columns".format(table_id, len(table.schema)))

What's next

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