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How To Safely Rename a Database in MySql

by bernt & torsten

So you want to Safely Rename your MySql Database, here is a tip on how to do it. If you do not have phpmyadmin installed on your server, then below are the steps to safely rename a MySql database.

Create a 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;

In Linux shell, use mysqldump to back up the old database, then restore the dumped database under a new name using the MySQL utility. Finally, use then drop database command to drop the old database. This option does not work that well on a 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"

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"

If you found this information useful, please comment below.