hide_user31@phone>create table test ( foo tinyint default null ); Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec) hide_user31@phone>insert into test values (1),(0),(1); Query OK, 3 rows affected (0.02 sec) Records: 3 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0 hide_user31@phone>alter table test change column foo foo enum('zero','one'); Query OK, 3 rows affected (0.00 sec) Records: 3 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0 hide_user31@phone>select * from test; +------+ | foo | +------+ | zero | | | | zero | +------+ 3 rows in set (0.00 sec)