DROP TABLE IF EXISTS nullable_alter; set allow_deprecated_syntax_for_merge_tree=1; CREATE TABLE nullable_alter (d Date DEFAULT '2000-01-01', x String) ENGINE = MergeTree(d, d, 1); INSERT INTO nullable_alter (x) VALUES ('Hello'), ('World'); SELECT x FROM nullable_alter ORDER BY x; ALTER TABLE nullable_alter MODIFY COLUMN x Nullable(String); SELECT x FROM nullable_alter ORDER BY x; INSERT INTO nullable_alter (x) VALUES ('xyz'), (NULL); SELECT x FROM nullable_alter ORDER BY x NULLS FIRST; ALTER TABLE nullable_alter MODIFY COLUMN x Nullable(FixedString(5)); SELECT x FROM nullable_alter ORDER BY x NULLS FIRST; DROP TABLE nullable_alter;