Re: change column name in sql?

On 15 May 2013 07:50, Birgitta Hauser wrote:

Only if the short name and the alias name are *both* incorrect.
<<SNIP>>

That means you can change the long_name but keep the short one and
vice versa.

Choosing just that one snippet of my reply, loses the context of my overall message. My reply was specifically to the quoted message. My comments were not a reply to the question posed originally. I apologize for not making that sentence more clear in that regard.

Could you please explain how'd you do that, i.e. change the system
name or the SQL name for a column ?

I was responding specifically to the reply that suggested "What you can do is...", rather than responding to the question posed by the "Subject:". FWiW I posted another reply giving the script required to effect the change when only one of the short field name and long field name is incorrect, along with a shorter script for when both field names are incorrect.

Thus my intention was to explain that the rename of a column can be effected by adding "a new column with the desired name, data type, and length" [and then dropping the old column afterward] *only* "if the short name and the alias name are *both* incorrect, "because one of the two names for the new\corrected column would be a duplicate of the correct name in the 'old column'".

The request to perform "ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN the_right_name FOR right_name" would fail with SQL0612 "RIGHT_NAME is a duplicate column name" if the original TABLE had been created with only the long column name being incorrect; e.g.:
create table theTable (an_incorrect_name for right_name ...)

Regards, Chuck

On 15 May 2013 07:23, CRPence wrote:

On 14 May 2013 22:26, Birgitta Hauser wrote:

There is no way to alter a column name, neither the long SQL nor
the short system name.
What you can do is to add a new column with the desired name,
data type and length. (If there are already data within the old
column copy these data into the new column). And delete the old
column after.

Only if the short name and the alias name are *both* incorrect.

A bit more complicated than just that for the scenario presented,
wherein one of the two names [short and alias] is correct, but the
other is incorrect. In that case, the "new column" can not be
added, because one of the two names for the new\corrected column
would be a duplicate of the correct name in the "old column".
Introducing an additional set of add\drop column ALTER requests
using something like "add column bogus_alias_name for bogus_name"
would be required... and of course the additional corresponding
UPDATE if data were present. All the more reason to just DROP
TABLE and re-create might be better... separately dealing with
dependencies, data, ownership, and authority issues required for
that action.