How do I quickly rename a MySQL database (change schema name)?

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

Answer 1

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

Answer 2

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=

Answer 3

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.

Answer 4

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

Answer 5

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.

Answer 6

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