I was wondering if there was a way to easily order the fields of a table that display from a "SHOW COLUMNS FROM table_name".

I assumed this might be possible with an "ALTER TABLE table_name MODIFY ..." command but I haven't been able to get anything to work. I noticed there is syntax for "ALTER TABLE MODIFY" that could prove useful (FIRST | BEFORE | AFTER) but on all my attempts I couldn't get anything to work.

I know I could go around all this by just dumping my table and re-creating it with the field orders I intended but I figured MySQL had an easier way I could do this with a few simple commands.

Thanks in advance...

Use something as simple as
you need the int (or char or char(15) or whatever) for the columntype after the first column so the database knows what type of data is stored in the column.

I don't know what is up but MySQL sends me an error 1064 message for 'AFTER bar' using the example above. Does anyone else experience this?

What version of mysql are you using? I can't think that it should matter but I think 1064 errors crop up when you are using a version of mysql that isn't compatible with the code you are attempting (such as using a subquery before 4.1 or whatever version it starts with). Rudy or Pat can you clarify if I am right with this line of thinking?

Download the GUI from here and it does it for you.
http://www.mysqlfront.de/