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