Change column in rails from integer to float -

i have contact_number in customers table using field integer. tried creating record in rails c apparently can't store larger field of numbers. looked around online think should use float instead of integer given precision of 10 numbers in states

my thought create new migration

class changecontactnumberincustomertabletofloatfrominteger < activerecord::migration   def change_table      remove_column :customers, :contact_number, :integer     add_column :customers, :contact_number, :float   end end 

how specify precision , correct way in doing this?

first off, if correct contact_number phone number, want use string rather numeric field. phone numbers not numeric values collection of digits. or stated more generally, collection of characters, happen limited numbers.

additionally, easier parse area code , country code too, if relevant (however hypothetically if need parse country , area code, you'd want store in separate columns anyways, that's different discussion)

to answer question directly, use change_column method instead, so:

change_column :customers, :contact_number, :string 

details found here: http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/activerecord/migration.html