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I created a database with the name of hrms. Now I need to change database name to sunhrm. But, It is disabled in MySQL workbench. Can I do that on the Linux server itself?

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  • Which mysql version are you using? Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 4:47
  • @Joachim Isaksson I'm using mysql 5.5 Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 4:49
  • Also on serverfault: serverfault.com/questions/195221/how-to-rename-a-mysql-database Commented Aug 14, 2013 at 6:05
  • Hopefully MySQL will implement a new, working RENAME DATABASE statement that doesn't have any dangers, as there is no easy way to do this task currently. There is no obvious reason why it was dangerous in the documentation so they should be able to make a replacement. At least people have put feature request bugs on their website. For example, bugs.mysql.com/bug.php?id=58593 and bugs.mysql.com/bug.php?id=1698. Commented Apr 15, 2016 at 16:05

11 Answers 11

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71

In case you need to do that from the command line, just copy, adapt & paste this snippet:

mysql -e "CREATE DATABASE \`new_database\`;"
for table in `mysql -B -N -e "SHOW TABLES;" old_database`
do 
  mysql -e "RENAME TABLE \`old_database\`.\`$table\` to \`new_database\`.\`$table\`"
done
mysql -e "DROP DATABASE \`old_database\`;"
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7 Comments

Note that this only handles the tables. Views and stored procedures have to be done separately.
Bit easier to use version of this script: gist.github.com/tadas-s/5411299
Here is an alternate way to create rename table command in SQL within MySQL directy: blog.marceloaltmann.com/how-to-rename-a-database-in-mysql
The gist at gist.github.com/tadas-s/5411299 worked fine for me. However, it would be nice if it could handle views and would take some command-line arguments.
DROP the TRIGGERs first (if any) !!!!
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I don't think you can do this. Basic answers will work in many cases, and in others cause data corruptions. A strategy needs to be chosen based on heuristic analysis of your database. That is the reason this feature was implemented, and then removed. [doc]

You'll need to dump all object types in that database, create the newly named one and then import the dump. If this is a live system you'll need to take it down. If you cannot, then you will need to setup replication from this database to the new one.

If you want to see the commands that could do this, @satishD has the details, which conveys some of the challenges around which you'll need to build a strategy that matches your target database.

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2 Comments

Does it make sense? Why MySQL developer omitted such a important option?
This could be a reason for marketing. Many MySQL hosting providers are offering you a free but randomly and banal named database name but if you wish to rename it to something simple and readable, then you pretty much have to pay for it.
37

You can create a new database exactly as the previous database existed and then drop the old database when you're done. Use the mysqldump tool to create a .sql backup of the database via mysqldump orig_db > orig_db.sql or if you need to use a username and password then run mysqldump -u root -p orig_db > orig_db.sql. orig_db is the name of the database you want to "rename", root would be the user you're logging in as and orig_db.sql would be the file created containing the backup. Now create a new, empty database with the name you want for the database. For example, mysql -u root -p -e "create database new_db". Once that's done, then run mysql -u root -p new_db < orig_db.sql. new_db now exists as a perfect copy of orig_db. You can then drop the original database as you now have it existing in the new database with the database name you wanted.

The short, quick steps without all the above explanation are:

  1. mysqldump -u root -p original_database > original_database.sql
  2. mysql -u root -p -e "create database my_new_database"
  3. mysql -u root -p my_new_database < original_database.sql
  4. mysql -u root -p -e drop database originl_database

Hope this helps and this is a reliable means to accomplish it without using some ad-hoc method that will corrupt your data and create inconsistencies.

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3 Comments

concise, safe, worked best for me (on simple DBs without triggers)
Just create the database and pipe the results from one directly to the other: mysqldump -u root -p old_db|mysql -u root -p new_db.
You may have to edit the original_database.sql file and comment out the CREATE DATABASE … and USE … statements at the top, to avoid creating/using the original database.
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It's possible to copy database via mysqldump command without storing dump into file:

  1. mysql -u root -p -e "create database my_new_database"
  2. mysqldump -u root -p original_database | mysql -u root -p my_new_database
  3. mysql -u root -p -e "drop database original_database"
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23

You can do it by RENAME statement for each table in your "current_db" after create the new schema "other_db"

RENAME TABLE current_db.tbl_name TO other_db.tbl_name

Source Rename Table Syntax

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2 Comments

Hi mikeslattery, my statement is a RENAME TABLE not a RENAME DATABASE or SCHEMA
Pffft, oops. Sorry. :)
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In short no. It is generally thought to be too dangerous to rename a database. MySQL had that feature for a bit, but it was removed. You would be better off using the workbench to export both the schema and data to SQL then changing the CREATE DATABASE name there before you run/import it.

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4

I used following method to rename the database

  1. take backup of the file using mysqldump or any DB tool eg heidiSQL,mysql administrator etc

  2. Open back up (eg backupfile.sql) file in some text editor.

  3. Search and replace the database name and save file.

  4. Restore the edited SQL file

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1 Comment

Don't forget to create the new Database which you want to import the data. In other words, the "renamed" database.
2

If your DB contains only MyISAM tables (do not use this method if you have InnoDB tables):

  1. shut down the MySQL server
  2. go to the mysql data directory and rename the database directory (Note: non-alpha characters need to be encoded in a special way)
  3. restart the server
  4. adjust privileges if needed (grant access to the new DB name)

You can script it all in one command so that downtime is just a second or two.

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1

For impatient mysql users (like me), the solution is:

/etc/init.d/mysql stop
mv /var/lib/mysql/old_database /var/lib/mysql/new_database 
/etc/init.d/mysql start
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4 Comments

I tried this. I moved my_project to my_project_bak, then created a new blank database called my_project. I was unable to create a table in the new blank database when it had the same name as a table in my_project_bak.
While this was very easy and quick to do and seemed to work, it did cause some inconsistencies, probably due to innodb
you have to replace all privileges in the system tables (db mysql), this one is for the database privileges use mysql; update db set Db=newdbname where Db=olddbname
Do NOT do this if you have InnoDB tables. Use this method only if all your tables are MyISAM tables.
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First backup the old database called HRMS and edit the script file with replace the word HRMS to SUNHRM. After this step import the database file to the mysql

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0

Another way to rename the database or taking image of the database is by using Reverse engineering option in the database tab. It will create a ERR diagram for the database. Rename the schema there.

after that go to file menu and go to export and forward engineer the database.

Then you can import the database.

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