SQL Rename Column Syntax

SQL > ALTER TABLE > Rename Column Syntax

Sometimes we want to change the name of a column. To do this in SQL, we specify that we want to change the structure of the table using the ALTER TABLE command, followed by a command that tells the relational database that we want to rename the column. The exact syntax for each database is as follows:

In MySQL, the SQL syntax for ALTER TABLE Rename Column is,

ALTER TABLE "table_name"
Change "column 1" "column 2" ["Data Type"];

In Oracle, the syntax is,

ALTER TABLE "table_name"
RENAME COLUMN "column 1" TO "column 2";

Let's look at the example. Assuming our starting point is the Customer table created in the CREATE TABLE section:

Table Customer

Column Name	Data Type
First_Name	char(50)
Last_Name	char(50)
Address	char(50)
City	char(50)
Country	char(25)
Birth_Date	datetime

To rename "Address" to "Addr", we key in,

MySQL:

ALTER TABLE Customer CHANGE Address Addr char(50);

Oracle:

ALTER TABLE Customer RENAME COLUMN Address TO Addr;

SQL Server:
It is not possible to rename a column using the ALTER TABLE statement in SQL Server. Use sp_rename instead.

The resulting table structure is:

Table Customer

Column Name	Data Type
First_Name	char(50)
Last_Name	char(50)
Addr	char(50)
City	char(50)
Country	char(25)
Birth_Date	datetime

To rename a column in SparkSQL or Hive SQL, we would use the ALTER TABLE Change Column command.

Next: SQL DROP COLUMN

This page was last updated on June 19, 2023.

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