ALTER TABLE Sqlite: how to check if a column exists before alter the table?

Question

I need to execute in python a SQL query that adds a new column, in sqlite3.

The problem is that sometimes it already exists. So previous to executing the query I ne

Answer 1

IMO this

conn = sqlite3.connect(':memory:')
c = conn.cursor()
try:
    c.execute('ALTER TABLE mytable ADD COLUMN newcolumn;')
except:
    pass # handle the error
c.close()

is a better choice than constructing special case queries.

You can wrap the above code in a AddColumn(cursor, table, column) function so you can reuse it,
plus it'll make the code more readable.