How do you drop a default value or similar constraint in T-SQL?

I know the syntax:

ALTER TABLE [TheTable] DROP CONSTRAINT [TheDefaultConstraint]

but how to I drop the default constraint when I don't know its name? (That is, it was autogenerated at CREATE TABLE time.)

Solution 1:

You can use this code to do it automatically:

DECLARE @tableName VARCHAR(MAX) = '<MYTABLENAME>'
DECLARE @columnName VARCHAR(MAX) = '<MYCOLUMNAME>'
DECLARE @ConstraintName nvarchar(200)
SELECT @ConstraintName = Name 
FROM SYS.DEFAULT_CONSTRAINTS
WHERE PARENT_OBJECT_ID = OBJECT_ID(@tableName) 
AND PARENT_COLUMN_ID = (
    SELECT column_id FROM sys.columns
    WHERE NAME = @columnName AND object_id = OBJECT_ID(@tableName))
IF @ConstraintName IS NOT NULL
    EXEC('ALTER TABLE '+@tableName+' DROP CONSTRAINT ' + @ConstraintName)

Just replace <MYTABLENAME> and <MYCOLUMNNAME> as appropriate.

Solution 2:

If you want to do this manually, you can use Management Studio to find it (under the Constraints node inside the table).

To do it using SQL:

• If the constraints are default constraints, you can use sys.default_constraints to find it:

  SELECT OBJECT_NAME(parent_object_id) AS TableName, name AS ConstraintName
  FROM sys.default_constraints ORDER BY TableName, ConstraintName
  

• If you are looking for other constraints as well (check, unique, foreign key, default, primary key), you can use sysconstraints:

  SELECT OBJECT_NAME(id) AS TableName, OBJECT_NAME(constid) AS ConstraintName
  FROM sysconstraints ORDER BY TableName, ConstraintName
  

You do not say which version of SQL Server you are using. The above work on both SQL 2005 and SQL 2008.