Knowledge

How to rename a MySQL database

#Databases

Unlike renaming a table, you can't rename a database in MySQL sadly enough. So there is no SQL query you can execute to achieve this. However, it is possible with a workaround.

Published by Mark van Eijk on September 24, 2024
Updated on September 25, 2024 · 1 minute read

  1. Create a newly named database
  2. Dump & import
  3. Drop the old database

The most important step: To get going with this, first create a full backup of your MySQL database to make sure you don't loose any data!

Create a newly named database

This step involves creating the database you want to rename the old database to:

CREATE DATABASE `NEW_DATABASE_NAME`;

Dump & import

Dump and import the old database into your new database:

mysqldump -u USERNAME -p OLD_DATABASE_NAME | mysql -u USERNAME -p NEW_DATABASE_NAME

Drop the old database

If your really sure, you can (with the backup on hand) remove the old database safely:

DROP DATABASE `OLD_DATABASE_NAME`

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