Oracle Rename Column

Summary: in this tutorial, you’ll learn how to rename a column in Oracle using the ALTER TABLE RENAME COLUMN statement.

Introduction to the ALTER TABLE RENAME COLUMN statement #

To change the name of a column to a new one, you use the ALTER TABLE ... RENAME COLUMN statement:

ALTER TABLE table_name
RENAME COLUMN column1 TO new_column;Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

In this syntax:

First, specify the table name to which the column you want to rename belongs.
Second, provide the column you want to change (column1) after the RENAME COLUMN keywords.
Third, specify the new name for the column you want to change after the TO keyword.

Renaming column example #

First, create a new table called sales_performances:

CREATE TABLE sales_performances(
   id NUMBER GENERATED ALWAYS AS IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY,
   sales_year NUMBER NOT NULL,
   amount NUMBER(19,2) NOT NULL  
);Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Second, change the amount column to sales_amount:

ALTER TABLE sales_performances
RENAME COLUMN amount TO sales_amount;Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Third, verify the changes by showing the structure of the sales_performances table:

DESC sales_performances;Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Output:

Name         Null?    Type         
------------ -------- ------------ 
ID           NOT NULL NUMBER       
SALES_YEAR   NOT NULL NUMBER       
SALES_AMOUNT NOT NULL NUMBER(19,2)Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

The output indicates that the statement has changed the amount column to sales_amount column successfully.

Summary #

Use the ALTER TABLE RENAME COLUMN statement to rename a column.

Quiz #

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