SQL Server 2005及以后版本：

IF EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM sys.columns 
          WHERE Name = N'columnName'
          AND Object_ID = Object_ID(N'schemaName.tableName'))
BEGIN
    -- Column Exists
END

马丁·史密斯的版本更短：

IF COL_LENGTH('schemaName.tableName', 'columnName') IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
    -- Column Exists
END

if exists (
  select * 
  from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS 
  where TABLE_NAME = '<table_name>' 
  and COLUMN_NAME = '<column_name>'
) begin
  print 'Column you have specified exists'
end else begin
  print 'Column does not exist'
end

IF EXISTS (
SELECT *
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE TABLE_CATALOG = 'Database Name'
and TABLE_SCHEMA = 'Schema Name'
and TABLE_NAME = 'Table Name'
and COLUMN_NAME = 'Column Name'
and DATA_TYPE = 'Column Type') -- Where statement lines can be deleted.

BEGIN
  -- Column exists in table
END

ELSE BEGIN
  -- Column does not exist in table
END

首先检查dbo.syscolumns（包含字段定义的内部SQL Server表）中是否存在表/列（id/name）组合，如果不存在，则发出适当的ALTER table查询以添加它。例如：

IF NOT EXISTS ( SELECT  *
            FROM    syscolumns
            WHERE   id = OBJECT_ID('Client')
                    AND name = 'Name' ) 
ALTER TABLE Client
ADD Name VARCHAR(64) NULL

您可以一次检查SQLDB中的多个列，并返回一个字符串作为状态以检查列是否存在：

IF EXISTS
        (
          SELECT *
          FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
          WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'Table Name'
          AND(COLUMN_NAME = 'column 1'
          or COLUMN_NAME = 'column 2'
          or COLUMN_NAME = 'column 3'
          or COLUMN_NAME = 'column 4')
        )
        SELECT 'Column exists in table' AS[Status];
        ELSE
        SELECT 'Column does not exist in table' AS[Status];

declare @myColumn   as nvarchar(128)
set @myColumn = 'myColumn'
if not exists (
    select  1
    from    information_schema.columns columns 
    where   columns.table_catalog   = 'myDatabase'
        and columns.table_schema    = 'mySchema' 
        and columns.table_name      = 'myTable' 
        and columns.column_name     = @myColumn
    )
begin
    exec('alter table myDatabase.mySchema.myTable add'
    +'    ['+@myColumn+'] bigint       null')
end