March 22, 2023 By Matthew Rathbone *

Renaming columns in a database table is a common task that database administrators perform. In this blog post, we will learn how to rename a column in an Oracle database. Renaming a column can be a bit tricky, but with the right steps, it’s a straightforward process.

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Prerequisites

Before we dive into the process of renaming a column, there are a few things that you need to be aware of:

  1. You must have the ALTER TABLE privilege to rename a column in an Oracle database.
  2. Renaming a column affects all the data stored in the table, so make sure to take a backup of your data before making any changes.
  3. You must have a basic understanding of SQL syntax to follow along with this tutorial.

Renaming a Column

To rename a column in an Oracle database, you need to use the ALTER TABLE command. The basic syntax for renaming a column in Oracle is:

ALTER TABLE table_name
RENAME COLUMN old_column_name TO new_column_name;

Let’s consider an example to understand the process of renaming a column in an Oracle database.

Suppose, you have a table named customers with the following structure:

Name Null? Type
CUSTOMER_ID NOT NULL NUMBER(10)
CUSTOMER_NAME NOT NULL VARCHAR2(50)
CUSTOMER_ADDRESS NOT NULL VARCHAR2(100)
CUSTOMER_PHONE_NO NOT NULL VARCHAR2(15)

Now, let’s say you want to change the name of the CUSTOMER_PHONE_NO column to PHONE_NUMBER. To do that, you need to run the following SQL statement:

ALTER TABLE customers
RENAME COLUMN CUSTOMER_PHONE_NO TO PHONE_NUMBER;

And that’s it! The column CUSTOMER_PHONE_NO has been successfully renamed to PHONE_NUMBER.

Renaming a Column In Beekeeper Studio

If you’re using Beekeeper Studio, you can rename a column without writing any SQL - right click the table, select View Structure and edit the table schema with the visual interface:

Conclusion

In this blog post, we learned how to rename a column in an Oracle database. We covered the prerequisites for renaming a column and walked through the process of renaming a column using the ALTER TABLE command. Renaming a column in an Oracle database is a straightforward process, but it is important to be cautious and take a backup of your data before making any changes.

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