Add sql table column before or after specific other column - by migrations in Laravel 4.1

Yes. Create a new migration using php artisan migrate:make update_users_table.

Then use the table command as follows (if you're using MySQL!):

Schema::table('users', function($table)
{
    $table->string('phone_nr')->after('id');
});

Once you've finished your migration, save it and run it using php artisan migrate and your table will be updated.

Documentation: https://laravel.com/docs/4.2/migrations#column-modifiers

The answer by James is still correct. However, Laravel 5 has slightly changed the make migration syntax:

php artisan make:migration add_google_auth_to_users_table --table=users

(I am aware this question is tagged Laravel 4, however it ranks quite high for the question ;) )

For anyone else wondering about @rahulsingh's query about adding multiple columns back to back after a single specific column:

$table->integer('col1')->after('ref_col');
$table->integer('col2')->after('what');

You can do this just by writing the new fields in reverse order, for example:

$table->integer('col4')->after('ref_col');
$table->integer('col3')->after('ref_col');
$table->integer('col2')->after('ref_col');
$table->integer('col1')->after('ref_col');

When you run this migration you'll find that your new fields col, col2, ... are in your intended order after the reference field ref_col.

Unfortunately there is no before() function for adding fields before an existing field. (If that existed we could keep the above statements in their real order.)

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You cannot do chaining with fields that do not yet exist, for example:

$table->integer('col1')->after('ref_col');
$table->integer('col2')->after('col1');
$table->integer('col3')->after('col2');
$table->integer('col4')->after('col3');

This is because the migration blueprint is compiled to a single query thus executed as one, so when it comes to adding col2 your database engine will complain that col1 doesn't exist.