Question

The MySQL manual at MySQL covers this.

Usually I just dump the database and reimport it with a new name. This is not an option for very big databases. Apparently RENAME {DATABASE | SCHEMA} db_name TO new_db_name; does bad things, exist only in a handful of versions, and is a bad idea overall.

This needs to work with InnoDB, which stores things very differently than MyISAM.

Was it helpful?

Solution

For InnoDB, the following seems to work: create the new empty database, then rename each table in turn into the new database:

RENAME TABLE old_db.table TO new_db.table;

You will need to adjust the permissions after that.

For scripting in a shell, you can use either of the following:

mysql -u username -ppassword old_db -sNe 'show tables' | while read table; \ 
    do mysql -u username -ppassword -sNe "rename table old_db.$table to new_db.$table"; done

Or

for table in `mysql -u root -ppassword -s -N -e "use old_db;show tables from old_db;"`; do mysql -u root -ppassword -s -N -e "use old_db;rename table old_db.$table to new_db.$table;"; done;

Notes:

  • There is no space between the option -p and the password. If your database has no password, remove the -u username -ppassword part.
  • If some table has a trigger, it cannot be moved to another database using above method (will result Trigger in wrong schema error). If that is the case, use a traditional way to clone a database and then drop the old one:

    mysqldump old_db | mysql new_db

  • If you have stored procedures, you can copy them afterwards:

    mysqldump -R old_db | mysql new_db

OTHER TIPS

Use these few simple commands:

mysqldump -u username -p -v olddatabase > olddbdump.sql
mysqladmin -u username -p create newdatabase
mysql -u username -p newdatabase < olddbdump.sql

Or to reduce I/O use the following as suggested by @Pablo Marin-Garcia:

mysqladmin -u username -p create newdatabase
mysqldump -u username -v olddatabase -p | mysql -u username -p -D newdatabase

I think the solution is simpler and was suggested by some developers. phpMyAdmin has an operation for this.

From phpMyAdmin, select the database you want to select. In the tabs there's one called Operations, go to the rename section. That's all.

It does, as many suggested, create a new database with the new name, dump all tables of the old database into the new database and drop the old database.

Enter image description here

You can use SQL to generate an SQL script to transfer each table in your source database to the destination database.

You must create the destination database before running the script generated from the command.

You can use either of these two scripts (I originally suggested the former and someone "improved" my answer to use GROUP_CONCAT. Take your pick, but I prefer the original):

SELECT CONCAT('RENAME TABLE $1.', table_name, ' TO $2.', table_name, '; ')
FROM information_schema.TABLES 
WHERE table_schema='$1';

or

SELECT GROUP_CONCAT('RENAME TABLE $1.', table_name, ' TO $2.', table_name SEPARATOR '; ')
FROM information_schema.TABLES 
WHERE table_schema='$1';

($1 and $2 are source and target respectively)

This will generate a SQL command that you'll have to then run.

Note that GROUP_CONCAT has a default length limit that may be exceeded for databases with a large number of tables. You can alter that limit by running SET SESSION group_concat_max_len = 100000000; (or some other large number).

Emulating the missing RENAME DATABASE command in MySQL:

  1. Create a new database
  2. Create the rename queries with:

    SELECT CONCAT('RENAME TABLE ',table_schema,'.',table_name,
        ' TO ','new_schema.',table_name,';')
    FROM information_schema.TABLES
    WHERE table_schema LIKE 'old_schema';
    
  3. Run that output

  4. Delete old database

It was taken from Emulating The Missing RENAME DATABASE Command in MySQL.

Three options:

  1. Create the new database, bring down the server, move the files from one database folder to the other, and restart the server. Note that this will only work if ALL of your tables are MyISAM.

  2. Create the new database, use CREATE TABLE ... LIKE statements, and then use INSERT ... SELECT * FROM statements.

  3. Use mysqldump and reload with that file.

The simple way

Change to the database directory:

cd /var/lib/mysql/

Shut down MySQL... This is important!

/etc/init.d/mysql stop

Okay, this way doesn't work for InnoDB or BDB-Databases.

Rename database:

mv old-name new-name

...or the table...

cd database/

mv old-name.frm new-name.frm

mv old-name.MYD new-name.MYD

mv old-name.MYI new-name.MYI

Restart MySQL

/etc/init.d/mysql start

Done...

OK, this way doesn't work with InnoDB or BDB databases. In this case you have to dump the database and re-import it.

I've only recently came across a very nice way to do it, works with MyISAM and InnoDB and is very fast:

RENAME TABLE old_db.table TO new_db.table;

I don't remember where I read it but credit goes to someone else not me.

You may use this shell script:

Reference: How to rename a MySQL database?

#!/bin/bash
set -e # terminate execution on command failure

mysqlconn="mysql -u root -proot"
olddb=$1
newdb=$2
$mysqlconn -e "CREATE DATABASE $newdb"
params=$($mysqlconn -N -e "SELECT TABLE_NAME FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES \
                           WHERE table_schema='$olddb'")
for name in $params; do
      $mysqlconn -e "RENAME TABLE $olddb.$name to $newdb.$name";
done;
$mysqlconn -e "DROP DATABASE $olddb"

It's working:

$ sh rename_database.sh oldname newname

This is what I use:

$ mysqldump -u root -p olddb >~/olddb.sql
$ mysql -u root -p
mysql> create database newdb;
mysql> use newdb
mysql> source ~/olddb.sql
mysql> drop database olddb;

Simplest bullet-and-fool-proof way of doing a complete rename (including dropping the old database at the end so it's a rename rather than a copy):

mysqladmin -uroot -pmypassword create newdbname
mysqldump -uroot -pmypassword --routines olddbname | mysql -uroot -pmypassword newdbname
mysqladmin -uroot -pmypassword drop olddbname

Steps:

  1. Copy the lines into Notepad.
  2. Replace all references to "olddbname", "newdbname", "mypassword" (+ optionally "root") with your equivalents.
  3. Execute one by one on the command line (entering "y" when prompted).

MySQL does not support the renaming of a database through its command interface at the moment, but you can rename the database if you have access to the directory in which MySQL stores its databases. For default MySQL installations this is usually in the Data directory under the directory where MySQL was installed. Locate the name of the database you want to rename under the Data directory and rename it. Renaming the directory could cause some permissions issues though. Be aware.

Note: You must stop MySQL before you can rename the database

I would recommend creating a new database (using the name you want) and export/import the data you need from the old to the new. Pretty simple.

When you rename a database in PHPMyAdmin it creates a dump, then drops and recreates the database with the new name.

For those who are Mac users, Sequel Pro has a Rename Database option in the Database menu. http://www.sequelpro.com/

Well there are 2 methods:

Method 1: A well-known method for renaming database schema is by dumping the schema using Mysqldump and restoring it in another schema, and then dropping the old schema (if needed).

From Shell

 mysqldump emp > emp.out
 mysql -e "CREATE DATABASE employees;"
 mysql employees < emp.out 
 mysql -e "DROP DATABASE emp;"

Although the above method is easy, it is time and space consuming. What if the schema is more than a 100GB? There are methods where you can pipe the above commands together to save on space, however it will not save time.

To remedy such situations, there is another quick method to rename schemas, however, some care must be taken while doing it.

Method 2: MySQL has a very good feature for renaming tables that even works across different schemas. This rename operation is atomic and no one else can access the table while its being renamed. This takes a short time to complete since changing a table’s name or its schema is only a metadata change. Here is procedural approach at doing the rename:

Create the new database schema with the desired name. Rename the tables from old schema to new schema, using MySQL’s “RENAME TABLE” command. Drop the old database schema. If there are views, triggers, functions, stored procedures in the schema, those will need to be recreated too. MySQL’s “RENAME TABLE” fails if there are triggers exists on the tables. To remedy this we can do the following things :

1) Dump the triggers, events and stored routines in a separate file. This done using -E, -R flags (in addition to -t -d which dumps the triggers) to the mysqldump command. Once triggers are dumped, we will need to drop them from the schema, for RENAME TABLE command to work.

 $ mysqldump <old_schema_name> -d -t -R -E > stored_routines_triggers_events.out

2) Generate a list of only “BASE” tables. These can be found using a query on information_schema.TABLES table.

 mysql> select TABLE_NAME from information_schema.tables where 
    table_schema='<old_schema_name>' and TABLE_TYPE='BASE TABLE';

3) Dump the views in an out file. Views can be found using a query on the same information_schema.TABLES table.

mysql> select TABLE_NAME from information_schema.tables where 
   table_schema='<old_schema_name>' and TABLE_TYPE='VIEW';
 $ mysqldump <database> <view1> <view2> … > views.out

4) Drop the triggers on the current tables in the old_schema.

mysql> DROP TRIGGER <trigger_name>;
...

5) Restore the above dump files once all the “Base” tables found in step #2 are renamed.

mysql> RENAME TABLE <old_schema>.table_name TO <new_schema>.table_name;
...
$ mysql <new_schema> < views.out
$ mysql <new_schema> < stored_routines_triggers_events.out

Intricacies with above methods : We may need to update the GRANTS for users such that they match the correct schema_name. These could fixed with a simple UPDATE on mysql.columns_priv, mysql.procs_priv, mysql.tables_priv, mysql.db tables updating the old_schema name to new_schema and calling “Flush privileges;”. Although “method 2″ seems a bit more complicated than the “method 1″, this is totally scriptable. A simple bash script to carry out the above steps in proper sequence, can help you save space and time while renaming database schemas next time.

The Percona Remote DBA team have written a script called “rename_db” that works in the following way :

[root@dba~]# /tmp/rename_db
rename_db <server> <database> <new_database>

To demonstrate the use of this script, used a sample schema “emp”, created test triggers, stored routines on that schema. Will try to rename the database schema using the script, which takes some seconds to complete as opposed to time consuming dump/restore method.

mysql> show databases;
+--------------------+
| Database           |
+--------------------+
| information_schema |
| emp                |
| mysql              |
| performance_schema |
| test               |
+--------------------+


[root@dba ~]# time /tmp/rename_db localhost emp emp_test
create database emp_test DEFAULT CHARACTER SET latin1
drop trigger salary_trigger
rename table emp.__emp_new to emp_test.__emp_new
rename table emp._emp_new to emp_test._emp_new
rename table emp.departments to emp_test.departments
rename table emp.dept to emp_test.dept
rename table emp.dept_emp to emp_test.dept_emp
rename table emp.dept_manager to emp_test.dept_manager
rename table emp.emp to emp_test.emp
rename table emp.employees to emp_test.employees
rename table emp.salaries_temp to emp_test.salaries_temp
rename table emp.titles to emp_test.titles
loading views
loading triggers, routines and events
Dropping database emp

real    0m0.643s
user    0m0.053s
sys     0m0.131s


mysql> show databases;
+--------------------+
| Database           |
+--------------------+
| information_schema |
| emp_test           |
| mysql              |
| performance_schema |
| test               |
+--------------------+

As you can see in the above output the database schema “emp” was renamed to “emp_test” in less than a second. Lastly, This is the script from Percona that is used above for “method 2″.

#!/bin/bash
# Copyright 2013 Percona LLC and/or its affiliates
set -e
if [ -z "$3" ]; then
    echo "rename_db <server> <database> <new_database>"
    exit 1
fi
db_exists=`mysql -h $1 -e "show databases like '$3'" -sss`
if [ -n "$db_exists" ]; then
    echo "ERROR: New database already exists $3"
    exit 1
fi
TIMESTAMP=`date +%s`
character_set=`mysql -h $1 -e "show create database $2\G" -sss | grep ^Create | awk -F'CHARACTER SET ' '{print $2}' | awk '{print $1}'`
TABLES=`mysql -h $1 -e "select TABLE_NAME from information_schema.tables where table_schema='$2' and TABLE_TYPE='BASE TABLE'" -sss`
STATUS=$?
if [ "$STATUS" != 0 ] || [ -z "$TABLES" ]; then
    echo "Error retrieving tables from $2"
    exit 1
fi
echo "create database $3 DEFAULT CHARACTER SET $character_set"
mysql -h $1 -e "create database $3 DEFAULT CHARACTER SET $character_set"
TRIGGERS=`mysql -h $1 $2 -e "show triggers\G" | grep Trigger: | awk '{print $2}'`
VIEWS=`mysql -h $1 -e "select TABLE_NAME from information_schema.tables where table_schema='$2' and TABLE_TYPE='VIEW'" -sss`
if [ -n "$VIEWS" ]; then
    mysqldump -h $1 $2 $VIEWS > /tmp/${2}_views${TIMESTAMP}.dump
fi
mysqldump -h $1 $2 -d -t -R -E > /tmp/${2}_triggers${TIMESTAMP}.dump
for TRIGGER in $TRIGGERS; do
    echo "drop trigger $TRIGGER"
    mysql -h $1 $2 -e "drop trigger $TRIGGER"
done
for TABLE in $TABLES; do
    echo "rename table $2.$TABLE to $3.$TABLE"
    mysql -h $1 $2 -e "SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0; rename table $2.$TABLE to $3.$TABLE"
done
if [ -n "$VIEWS" ]; then
    echo "loading views"
    mysql -h $1 $3 < /tmp/${2}_views${TIMESTAMP}.dump
fi
echo "loading triggers, routines and events"
mysql -h $1 $3 < /tmp/${2}_triggers${TIMESTAMP}.dump
TABLES=`mysql -h $1 -e "select TABLE_NAME from information_schema.tables where table_schema='$2' and TABLE_TYPE='BASE TABLE'" -sss`
if [ -z "$TABLES" ]; then
    echo "Dropping database $2"
    mysql -h $1 $2 -e "drop database $2"
fi
if [ `mysql -h $1 -e "select count(*) from mysql.columns_priv where db='$2'" -sss` -gt 0 ]; then
    COLUMNS_PRIV="    UPDATE mysql.columns_priv set db='$3' WHERE db='$2';"
fi
if [ `mysql -h $1 -e "select count(*) from mysql.procs_priv where db='$2'" -sss` -gt 0 ]; then
    PROCS_PRIV="    UPDATE mysql.procs_priv set db='$3' WHERE db='$2';"
fi
if [ `mysql -h $1 -e "select count(*) from mysql.tables_priv where db='$2'" -sss` -gt 0 ]; then
    TABLES_PRIV="    UPDATE mysql.tables_priv set db='$3' WHERE db='$2';"
fi
if [ `mysql -h $1 -e "select count(*) from mysql.db where db='$2'" -sss` -gt 0 ]; then
    DB_PRIV="    UPDATE mysql.db set db='$3' WHERE db='$2';"
fi
if [ -n "$COLUMNS_PRIV" ] || [ -n "$PROCS_PRIV" ] || [ -n "$TABLES_PRIV" ] || [ -n "$DB_PRIV" ]; then
    echo "IF YOU WANT TO RENAME the GRANTS YOU NEED TO RUN ALL OUTPUT BELOW:"
    if [ -n "$COLUMNS_PRIV" ]; then echo "$COLUMNS_PRIV"; fi
    if [ -n "$PROCS_PRIV" ]; then echo "$PROCS_PRIV"; fi
    if [ -n "$TABLES_PRIV" ]; then echo "$TABLES_PRIV"; fi
    if [ -n "$DB_PRIV" ]; then echo "$DB_PRIV"; fi
    echo "    flush privileges;"
fi

It is possible to rename all tables within a database to be under another database without having to do a full dump and restore.

DROP PROCEDURE IF EXISTS mysql.rename_db;
DELIMITER ||
CREATE PROCEDURE mysql.rename_db(IN old_db VARCHAR(100), IN new_db VARCHAR(100))
BEGIN
SELECT CONCAT('CREATE DATABASE ', new_db, ';') `# create new database`;
SELECT CONCAT('RENAME TABLE `', old_db, '`.`', table_name, '` TO `', new_db, '`.`', table_name, '`;') `# alter table` FROM information_schema.tables WHERE table_schema = old_db;
SELECT CONCAT('DROP DATABASE `', old_db, '`;') `# drop old database`;
END||
DELIMITER ;

$ time mysql -uroot -e "call mysql.rename_db('db1', 'db2');" | mysql -uroot

However any triggers in the target db will not be happy. You'll need to drop them first then recreate them after the rename.

mysql -uroot -e "call mysql.rename_db('test', 'blah2');" | mysql -uroot
ERROR 1435 (HY000) at line 4: Trigger in wrong schema

Most of the answers here are wrong for one of two reasons:

  1. You cannot just use RENAME TABLE, because there might be views and triggers. If there are triggers, RENAME TABLE fails
  2. You cannot use mysqldump if you want to "quickly" (as requested in the question) rename a big database

Percona has a blog post about how to do this well: https://www.percona.com/blog/2013/12/24/renaming-database-schema-mysql/

and script posted (made?) by Simon R Jones that does what is suggested in that post. I fixed a bug I found in the script. You can see it here:

https://gist.github.com/ryantm/76944318b0473ff25993ef2a7186213d

Here is a copy of it:

#!/bin/bash
# Copyright 2013 Percona LLC and/or its affiliates
# @see https://www.percona.com/blog/2013/12/24/renaming-database-schema-mysql/
set -e
if [ -z "$3" ]; then
    echo "rename_db <server> <database> <new_database>"
    exit 1
fi
db_exists=`mysql -h $1 -e "show databases like '$3'" -sss`
if [ -n "$db_exists" ]; then
    echo "ERROR: New database already exists $3"
    exit 1
fi
TIMESTAMP=`date +%s`
character_set=`mysql -h $1 -e "SELECT default_character_set_name FROM information_schema.SCHEMATA WHERE schema_name = '$2'" -sss`
TABLES=`mysql -h $1 -e "select TABLE_NAME from information_schema.tables where table_schema='$2' and TABLE_TYPE='BASE TABLE'" -sss`
STATUS=$?
if [ "$STATUS" != 0 ] || [ -z "$TABLES" ]; then
    echo "Error retrieving tables from $2"
    exit 1
fi
echo "create database $3 DEFAULT CHARACTER SET $character_set"
mysql -h $1 -e "create database $3 DEFAULT CHARACTER SET $character_set"
TRIGGERS=`mysql -h $1 $2 -e "show triggers\G" | grep Trigger: | awk '{print $2}'`
VIEWS=`mysql -h $1 -e "select TABLE_NAME from information_schema.tables where table_schema='$2' and TABLE_TYPE='VIEW'" -sss`
if [ -n "$VIEWS" ]; then
    mysqldump -h $1 $2 $VIEWS > /tmp/${2}_views${TIMESTAMP}.dump
fi
mysqldump -h $1 $2 -d -t -R -E > /tmp/${2}_triggers${TIMESTAMP}.dump
for TRIGGER in $TRIGGERS; do
    echo "drop trigger $TRIGGER"
    mysql -h $1 $2 -e "drop trigger $TRIGGER"
done
for TABLE in $TABLES; do
    echo "rename table $2.$TABLE to $3.$TABLE"
    mysql -h $1 $2 -e "SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0; rename table $2.$TABLE to $3.$TABLE"
done
if [ -n "$VIEWS" ]; then
    echo "loading views"
    mysql -h $1 $3 < /tmp/${2}_views${TIMESTAMP}.dump
fi
echo "loading triggers, routines and events"
mysql -h $1 $3 < /tmp/${2}_triggers${TIMESTAMP}.dump
TABLES=`mysql -h $1 -e "select TABLE_NAME from information_schema.tables where table_schema='$2' and TABLE_TYPE='BASE TABLE'" -sss`
if [ -z "$TABLES" ]; then
    echo "Dropping database $2"
    mysql -h $1 $2 -e "drop database $2"
fi
if [ `mysql -h $1 -e "select count(*) from mysql.columns_priv where db='$2'" -sss` -gt 0 ]; then
    COLUMNS_PRIV="    UPDATE mysql.columns_priv set db='$3' WHERE db='$2';"
fi
if [ `mysql -h $1 -e "select count(*) from mysql.procs_priv where db='$2'" -sss` -gt 0 ]; then
    PROCS_PRIV="    UPDATE mysql.procs_priv set db='$3' WHERE db='$2';"
fi
if [ `mysql -h $1 -e "select count(*) from mysql.tables_priv where db='$2'" -sss` -gt 0 ]; then
    TABLES_PRIV="    UPDATE mysql.tables_priv set db='$3' WHERE db='$2';"
fi
if [ `mysql -h $1 -e "select count(*) from mysql.db where db='$2'" -sss` -gt 0 ]; then
    DB_PRIV="    UPDATE mysql.db set db='$3' WHERE db='$2';"
fi
if [ -n "$COLUMNS_PRIV" ] || [ -n "$PROCS_PRIV" ] || [ -n "$TABLES_PRIV" ] || [ -n "$DB_PRIV" ]; then
    echo "IF YOU WANT TO RENAME the GRANTS YOU NEED TO RUN ALL OUTPUT BELOW:"
    if [ -n "$COLUMNS_PRIV" ]; then echo "$COLUMNS_PRIV"; fi
    if [ -n "$PROCS_PRIV" ]; then echo "$PROCS_PRIV"; fi
    if [ -n "$TABLES_PRIV" ]; then echo "$TABLES_PRIV"; fi
    if [ -n "$DB_PRIV" ]; then echo "$DB_PRIV"; fi
    echo "    flush privileges;"
fi

Save it to a file called rename_db and make the script executable with chmod +x rename_db then use it like ./rename_db localhost old_db new_db

Here is a batch file I wrote to automate it from the command line, but it for Windows/MS-DOS.

Syntax is rename_mysqldb database newdatabase -u [user] -p[password]

:: ***************************************************************************
:: FILE: RENAME_MYSQLDB.BAT
:: ***************************************************************************
:: DESCRIPTION
:: This is a Windows /MS-DOS batch file that automates renaming a MySQL database 
:: by using MySQLDump, MySQLAdmin, and MySQL to perform the required tasks.
:: The MySQL\bin folder needs to be in your environment path or the working directory.
::
:: WARNING: The script will delete the original database, but only if it successfully
:: created the new copy. However, read the disclaimer below before using.
::
:: DISCLAIMER
:: This script is provided without any express or implied warranties whatsoever.
:: The user must assume the risk of using the script.
::
:: You are free to use, modify, and distribute this script without exception.
:: ***************************************************************************

:INITIALIZE
@ECHO OFF
IF [%2]==[] GOTO HELP
IF [%3]==[] (SET RDB_ARGS=--user=root) ELSE (SET RDB_ARGS=%3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9)
SET RDB_OLDDB=%1
SET RDB_NEWDB=%2
SET RDB_DUMPFILE=%RDB_OLDDB%_dump.sql
GOTO START

:START
SET RDB_STEP=1
ECHO Dumping "%RDB_OLDDB%"...
mysqldump %RDB_ARGS% %RDB_OLDDB% > %RDB_DUMPFILE%
IF %ERRORLEVEL% NEQ 0 GOTO ERROR_ABORT
SET RDB_STEP=2
ECHO Creating database "%RDB_NEWDB%"...
mysqladmin %RDB_ARGS% create %RDB_NEWDB%
IF %ERRORLEVEL% NEQ 0 GOTO ERROR_ABORT
SET RDB_STEP=3
ECHO Loading dump into "%RDB_NEWDB%"...
mysql %RDB_ARGS% %RDB_NEWDB% < %RDB_DUMPFILE%
IF %ERRORLEVEL% NEQ 0 GOTO ERROR_ABORT
SET RDB_STEP=4
ECHO Dropping database "%RDB_OLDDB%"...
mysqladmin %RDB_ARGS% drop %RDB_OLDDB% --force
IF %ERRORLEVEL% NEQ 0 GOTO ERROR_ABORT
SET RDB_STEP=5
ECHO Deleting dump...
DEL %RDB_DUMPFILE%
IF %ERRORLEVEL% NEQ 0 GOTO ERROR_ABORT
ECHO Renamed database "%RDB_OLDDB%" to "%RDB_NEWDB%".
GOTO END

:ERROR_ABORT
IF %RDB_STEP% GEQ 3 mysqladmin %RDB_ARGS% drop %NEWDB% --force
IF %RDB_STEP% GEQ 1 IF EXIST %RDB_DUMPFILE% DEL %RDB_DUMPFILE%
ECHO Unable to rename database "%RDB_OLDDB%" to "%RDB_NEWDB%".
GOTO END

:HELP
ECHO Renames a MySQL database.
ECHO Usage: %0 database new_database [OPTIONS]
ECHO Options: Any valid options shared by MySQL, MySQLAdmin and MySQLDump.
ECHO          --user=root is used if no options are specified.
GOTO END    

:END
SET RDB_OLDDB=
SET RDB_NEWDB=
SET RDB_ARGS=
SET RDB_DUMP=
SET RDB_STEP=

TodoInTX's stored procedure didn't quite work for me. Here's my stab at it:

-- stored procedure rename_db: Rename a database my means of table copying.
-- Caveats: 
-- Will clobber any existing database with the same name as the 'new' database name.
-- ONLY copies tables; stored procedures and other database objects are not copied.
-- Tomer Altman (taltman@ai.sri.com)

delimiter //
DROP PROCEDURE IF EXISTS rename_db;
CREATE PROCEDURE rename_db(IN old_db VARCHAR(100), IN new_db VARCHAR(100))
BEGIN
    DECLARE current_table VARCHAR(100);
    DECLARE done INT DEFAULT 0;
    DECLARE old_tables CURSOR FOR select table_name from information_schema.tables where table_schema = old_db;
    DECLARE CONTINUE HANDLER FOR NOT FOUND SET done = 1;

    SET @output = CONCAT('DROP SCHEMA IF EXISTS ', new_db, ';'); 
    PREPARE stmt FROM @output;
    EXECUTE stmt;

    SET @output = CONCAT('CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS ', new_db, ';');
    PREPARE stmt FROM @output;
    EXECUTE stmt;

    OPEN old_tables;
    REPEAT
        FETCH old_tables INTO current_table;
        IF NOT done THEN
        SET @output = CONCAT('alter table ', old_db, '.', current_table, ' rename ', new_db, '.', current_table, ';');
        PREPARE stmt FROM @output;
        EXECUTE stmt;

        END IF;
    UNTIL done END REPEAT;

    CLOSE old_tables;

END//
delimiter ;

Steps :

  1. Hit http://localhost/phpmyadmin/
  2. Select your DB
  3. Click on Operations Tab
  4. There will be a tab as "Rename database to". Add new name and check Adjust privileges.
  5. Click on Go.

enter image description here

I posed a question on Server Fault trying to get around downtime when restoring very large databases by using MySQL Proxy. I didn't have any success, but I realized in the end what I wanted was RENAME DATABASE functionality because dump/import wasn't an option due to the size of our database.

There is a RENAME TABLE functionality built in to MySQL so I ended up writing a simple Python script to do the job for me. I've posted it on GitHub in case it could be of use to others.

For your convenience, below is a small shellscript that has to be executed with two parameters: db-name and new db-name.

You might need to add login-parameters to the mysql-lines if you don't use the .my.cnf-file in your home-directory. Please make a backup before executing this script.


#!/usr/bin/env bash

mysql -e "CREATE DATABASE $2 DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;"
for i in $(mysql -Ns $1 -e "show tables");do
    echo "$1.$i -> $2.$i"
    mysql -e "rename TABLE $1.$i to $2.$i"
done
mysql -e "DROP DATABASE $1"

The simplest method is to use HeidiSQL software. It's free and open source. It runs on Windows and on any Linux with Wine (run Windows applications on Linux, BSD, Solaris and Mac OS X).

To download HeidiSQL, goto http://www.heidisql.com/download.php.

To download Wine, goto http://www.winehq.org/.

To rename a database in HeidiSQL, just right click on the database name and select 'Edit'. Then enter a new name and press 'OK'.

It is so simple.

Here is a quick way to generate renaming sql script, if you have many tables to move.

SELECT DISTINCT CONCAT('RENAME TABLE ', t.table_schema,'.', t.table_name, ' TO ',     
t.table_schema, "_archive", '.', t.table_name, ';' ) as Rename_SQL 
FROM information_schema.tables t
WHERE table_schema='your_db_name' ;

Seems noone mentioned this but here is another way:

create database NewDatabaseName like OldDatabaseName;

then for each table do:

create NewDatabaseName.tablename like OldDatabaseName.tablename;
insert into NewDataBaseName.tablename select * from OldDatabaseName.tablename;

then, if you want to,

drop database OldDatabaseName;

This approach would have the advantage of doing the entire transfer on server with near zero network traffic, so it will go a lot faster than a dump/restore.

If you do have stored procedures/views/etc you might want to transfer them as well.

For mac users, you can use Sequel Pro (free), which just provide the option to rename Databases. Though it doesn't delete the old DB.

once open the relevant DB just click: Database --> Rename database...

In MySQL Administrator do the following:

  1. Under Catalogs, create a new database schema.
  2. Go to Backup and create a backup of the old schema.
  3. Execute backup.
  4. Go to Restore and open the file created in step 3.
  5. Select 'Another Schema' under Target Schema and select the new database schema.
  6. Start Restore.
  7. Verify new schema and, if it looks good, delete the old one.

in phpmyadmin you can easily rename the database

select database 

  goto operations tab

  in that rename Database to :

  type your new database name and click go

ask to drop old table and reload table data click OK in both

Your database is renamed

If you are using phpMyAdmin you can go to the "operations" tab once you have selected the database you want to rename. Then go to the last section "copy database to" (or something like that), give a name, and select the options below. In this case, I guess you must select "structure and data" and "create database before copying" checkboxes and, finally, press the "go" button in that section.

By the way, I'm using phpMyAdmin in Spanish so I'm not sure what the names of the sections are in English.

Here is a one-line Bash snippet to move all tables from one schema to another:

history -d $((HISTCMD-1)) && mysql -udb_user -p'db_password' -Dold_schema -ABNnqre'SHOW TABLES;' | sed -e's/.*/RENAME TABLE old_schema.`&` TO new_schema.`&`;/' | mysql -udb_user -p'db_password' -Dnew_schema

The history command at the start simply ensures that the MySQL commands containing passwords aren't saved to the shell history.

Make sure that db_user has read/write/drop permissions on the old schema, and read/write/create permissions on the new schema.

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