# DDL with MariaDB Connector/R2DBC (Native API)

## Overview

Java developers can use MariaDB Connector/R2DBC to connect to MariaDB database products using the Reactive Relational Database Connectivity (R2DBC) API. R2DBC operations are non-blocking, which makes R2DBC more scalable than Java's standard JDBC API.

DDL (Data Definition Language) refers to all SQL-schema statements in the SQL standard (ISO/IEC 9075-2:2016).

Some examples of DDL include [ALTER TABLE](/docs/server/reference/sql-statements/data-definition/alter/alter-table.md), [CREATE TABLE](/docs/server/server-usage/tables/create-table.md), [DROP TABLE](/docs/server/server-usage/tables/drop-table.md), [CREATE DATABASE](/docs/server/reference/sql-statements/data-definition/create/create-database.md), and [TRUNCATE](/docs/server/reference/sql-functions/numeric-functions/truncate.md).

## DDL Operations

With R2DBC, DDL statements are performed with the following classes:

| Class                  | Description                                   |
| ---------------------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| io.r2dbc.spi.Statement | Creates a statement to execute on the server. |
| io.r2dbc.spi.Result    | Contains the result-set from the server.      |

## Code Example: ALTER TABLE

ALTER TABLE is a DDL (Data Definition Language) operation that makes changes to an existing table. The following example changes the example table created in [Setup for Examples](/docs/connectors/mariadb-connector-r2dbc/using-the-native-r2dbc-api-of-mariadb-connector-r2dbc/setup-for-connector-r2dbc-examples-native-api.md).

```java
//Module Imports
import org.mariadb.r2dbc.MariadbConnectionConfiguration;
import org.mariadb.r2dbc.MariadbConnectionFactory;
import io.r2dbc.spi.Connection;
import reactor.core.publisher.Mono;

//Main Application Class
public class App {
   // Connection Configuration
   private static MariadbConnectionConfiguration conf;
   private static MariadbConnectionFactory connFactory;
   private static Connection conn;

   // Main Process
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      // Initialize Connection Factory
      initConnectionFactory();

      // Alter Contacts Table
      alterContactsTable();
   }

   public static void initConnectionFactory() {
      try {
         // Configure the Connection
         conf = MariadbConnectionConfiguration.builder()
              .host("192.0.2.1").port(3306)
              .username("db_user").password("db_user_password")
              .database("test").build();

         // Instantiate a Connection Factory
         connFactory = new MariadbConnectionFactory(conf);
      }
      catch (java.lang.IllegalArgumentException e) {
         System.err.println("Issue encountered while creating  connection factory");
         e.printStackTrace();
      }
   }

   public static void alterContactsTable() {
      try {
         //Initialize a Connection
         conn = connFactory.create().block();

         //Create and run a Statement
         Mono.from(
            conn.createStatement("ALTER TABLE test.contact CHANGE COLUMN first_name f_name VARCHAR(25)").execute()
         ).subscribe();
      }
      // Catch Exception
      catch (java.lang.IllegalArgumentException e) {
         System.err.println("Issue altering contact table");
         e.printStackTrace();
      } finally {
         // Close Connection
         conn.close();
      }
   }
}
```

Confirm the table was properly altered by using MariaDB Client to execute a DESC statement on the same table:

```sql
DESC test.contact;
```

```
+-----------+-------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field     | Type        | Null | Key | Default | Extra          |
+-----------+-------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| id        | int(11)     | NO   | PRI | NULL    | auto_increment |
| f_name    | varchar(25) | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| last_name | varchar(25) | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| email     | varchar(25) | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
+-----------+-------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
```

## Code Example: TRUNCATE TABLE

The following example shows how to truncate the example table created in [Setup for Examples](/docs/connectors/mariadb-connector-r2dbc/using-the-native-r2dbc-api-of-mariadb-connector-r2dbc/setup-for-connector-r2dbc-examples-native-api.md).

TRUNCATE is a DDL (Data Definition Language) operation that deletes all data from an existing table and resets the AUTO\_INCREMENT column counter to 0:

```java
//Module Imports
import org.mariadb.r2dbc.MariadbConnectionConfiguration;
import org.mariadb.r2dbc.MariadbConnectionFactory;
import io.r2dbc.spi.Connection;
import reactor.core.publisher.Mono;

//Main Application Class
public class App {

   // Connection Configuration
   private static MariadbConnectionConfiguration conf;
   private static MariadbConnectionFactory connFactory;
   private static Connection conn;

   // Main Process
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      //Initialize Connection Factory
      initConnectionFactory();

      // Truncate table
      truncateTable();
   }

   public static void initConnectionFactory() {
      try {
         // Configure the Connection
         conf = MariadbConnectionConfiguration.builder()
              .host("192.0.2.1").port(3306)
              .username("db_user").password("db_user_password")
              .database("test").build();

         // Instantiate a Connection Factory
         connFactory = new MariadbConnectionFactory(conf);
      }
      catch (java.lang.IllegalArgumentException e) {
         System.err.println("Issue encountered while getting connection");
         e.printStackTrace();
      } finally {
         // ...
      }
   }

   public static void truncateTable() {
      try {

         //Initialize a Connection
         conn = connFactory.create().block();

         // Initialize and run a Statement

         Mono.from(
            conn.createStatement("TRUNCATE test.contact").execute()
         ).subscribe();
      }
      // Catch Exception
      catch (java.lang.IllegalArgumentException e) {
         System.err.println("Issue truncating contact table");
         e.printStackTrace();
      } finally {
         // Close Connection
         conn.close();
      }
   }
}
```

Confirm the table was properly truncated by using MariaDB Client to execute a SELECT statement on the same table:

```sql
SELECT * FROM test.contact;
```

```
Empty set (0.000 sec)
```

<sub>*This page is: Copyright © 2025 MariaDB. All rights reserved.*</sub>

{% @marketo/form formId="4316" %}


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://mariadb.com/docs/connectors/mariadb-connector-r2dbc/using-the-native-r2dbc-api-of-mariadb-connector-r2dbc/ddl-with-mariadb-connector-r2dbc-native-api.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.