Description: Use the RENAME COLUMN statement to rename a column in a table.
Keywords: RENAME COLUMN statement, RENAME COLUMN, SQL statements, renaming, columns

# RENAME COLUMN statement

Use the RENAME COLUMN statement to rename a column in a table.

The RENAME COLUMN statement allows you to rename an existing column in an existing table in any schema (except the schema SYS).

To rename a column, you must either be the database owner or the table owner.

Other types of table alterations are possible; see ALTER TABLE statement for more information.

#### Syntax

    RENAME COLUMN table-Name.simple-Column-Name TO simple-Column-Name

#### Examples

To rename the manager column in table employee to supervisor, use the following syntax:

    RENAME COLUMN EMPLOYEE.MANAGER TO SUPERVISOR

You can combine ALTER TABLE and RENAME COLUMN to modify a column's data type. To change column c1 of table t to the new data type NEWTYPE:

        ALTER TABLE t ADD COLUMN c1_newtype NEWTYPE
        UPDATE t SET c1_newtype = c1
        ALTER TABLE t DROP COLUMN c1
        RENAME COLUMN t.c1_newtype TO c1

#### Usage notes

Note: If there is a view, trigger, check constraint, or foreign key constraint that references the column, attempts to rename it will generate an error.
Note: The RENAME COLUMN statement is not allowed if there are any open cursors that reference the column that is being altered.
Note: If there is an index defined on the column, the column can still be renamed; the index is automatically updated to refer to the column by its new name
Parent topic: RENAME statements
Related reference
RENAME INDEX statement
RENAME TABLE statement