How to rename a MySQL database?

Question

How to rename a MySQL database?

The MySQL online manual says about the RENAME DATABASE command:

This statement was added in MySQL 5.1.7 but was found to be dangerous and was removed in MySQL 5.1.23.

So, how to proceed? The rationale: We started with a code name for the project and want the database name now to reflect the definitive name of the project.

Answer 1

I tend to create a new database, and then dump the tables out of the old one, into a .sql file (with mysqldump), edit the file, do some kind of s/old_database/new_database/g and then reimport it into the new db.
Probably not the best way to do it, but it does work.

Answer 2

If you have chance to use a MySQL Management-Tool (e.g. phpMyAdmin) then you can rename it easily as they create the query for you.

In phpMyAdmin they also create each table and insert the data by "INSERT INTO... SELECT * FROM...". So by chaining they copy the data over.

If you can't do this I would recommend to make a dump and re-import the sql-File into a new database.

Good luck!

Regards, Ben.

Answer 3

I found a very simple solution: Shut down MySQL, rename the database directory and restart. That's all!

It's a bit dangerous if you have SQL code or data referring to the old name. Then you need to change that as well before you restart the application. But I didn't need to do that, but YMV.

Googling gives a few pointers like these two:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/67093/how-do-i-quickly-rename-a-mysql-database-change-schema-name

http://www.delphifaq.com/faq/databases/mysql/f574.shtml

Answer 4

From this blog post by Ilan Hazan:

In MySQL there is no support for database renaming. In order to rename a MySQL database you can do one of the following:

1. Create new database and rename all tables in the old database to be in the new database:

   CREATE database new_db_name;
   RENAME TABLE db_name.table1 TO new_db_name, db_name.table2 TO new_db_name;
   DROP database db_name;
   

2. In Linux shell, use mysqldump to back up the old database, then restore the dumped daenter code heretabase under a new name using the MySQL utility. Finally, use the drop database command to drop the old database. This option can preform badly for large database.

   mysqldump -uxxxx -pxxxx -h xxxx db_name > db_name_dump.sql
   mysql -uxxxx -pxxxx -h xxxx -e "CREATE DATABASE new_db_name"
   mysql -uxxxx -pxxxx -h xxxx new_db_name < db_name_dump.sql
   mysql -uxxxx -pxxxx -h xxxx -e "DROP DATABASE db_name"
   

3. Write a simple Linux script (my favorite solution)

   #!/bin/bash
   
   mysqlconn="mysql -u xxxx -pxxxx -S /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock -h localhost"
   olddb=xxxx
   newdb=xxxx
   
   #$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"
   

4. If all your tables are MyISAM, you can rename the old database folder name:

   1. Shut down the MySQL server,
   2. Rename the database folder name to the new name,
   3. Start the MySQL server.