# How to set a column's position in a Laravel migration


In a past post I wrote about [How to move a column in a Laravel migration](https://fgilio.com/how-to-move-a-column-in-a-laravel-migration/), but sometimes you're better prepared and want to define the position of the column while creating it.

Fortunately Laravel makes this real simple and we can fluently decide if a column must be positioned first or after another.

To put the column in the first place we use `->first()`, for example:

```php
// Place the column first
Schema::table('users', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->string('external_id')->first();
});
```

To put the column after another we use `->after('column')`, for example:

```php
// Place the column after another column 
Schema::table('users', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->string('external_id')->after('id');
});
```

And that's all, I hope someone finds it useful.