Alter Table Statement in MySQL : How to Rename Column in Table

In this tutorial I will show you how to rename column in a table.

RENAME COLUMN IN A TABLE

Syntax

Follow the below syntax to rename a column in a table using MySQL Alter Table Statement.

ALTER TABLE table_name
  CHANGE COLUMN old_name new_name 
    column_definition
    [ FIRST | AFTER column_name ]

Where;

• table_name : The name of the table to modify.
• old_name : The column to rename.
• new_name : New name for the column.
• column_definition : The datatype and definition of the column such as NULL OR NOT NULL etc. You must specify the column definition when renaming the column, even if it does not change.
• FIRST | AFTER column_name : Optional. It tells MySQL where in the table to position the column, if you wish to change its position.

Example

Let’s see how we can rename a column in a MySQL table using Alter Table Statement.

ALTER TABLE contacts
  CHANGE COLUMN contact_type ctype
    varchar(20) NOT NULL;

In the above example MySQL AFTER TABLE example will rename the column called contact_type to ctype. The column will be defined as a varchar(20) NOT NULL column.