DROP TABLE IF EXISTS test.nullable; CREATE TABLE test.nullable (x String) ENGINE = MergeTree ORDER BY x; INSERT INTO test.nullable VALUES ('hello'), ('world'); SELECT * FROM test.nullable; ALTER TABLE test.nullable ADD COLUMN n Nullable(UInt64); SELECT * FROM test.nullable; ALTER TABLE test.nullable DROP COLUMN n; ALTER TABLE test.nullable ADD COLUMN n Nullable(UInt64) DEFAULT NULL; SELECT * FROM test.nullable; ALTER TABLE test.nullable DROP COLUMN n; ALTER TABLE test.nullable ADD COLUMN n Nullable(UInt64) DEFAULT 0; SELECT * FROM test.nullable; DROP TABLE test.nullable;