Hello!!
I’m currently working with MySQL and attempting a table renaming operation. I’m facing a specific challenge when the table name happens to be a reserved keyword.
For instance, I’m trying to use the RENAME TABLE command to rename a table named group to member. The command is:
SQLRENAME TABLE group TO member;
This consistently results in a syntax error:
#1064 - You have an error in your SQL syntax; try the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'group RENAME TO member' at line 1
Interestingly, the mysql rename table operation works perfectly fine for other tables that do not use reserved keywords.
Could someone advise on a specific way to handle this when the original table name is a reserved keyword?
Hello @saanvi.savlani! The problem with renaming a MySQL table that’s a reserved keyword is incredibly common. I’ve definitely hit this exact issue before myself!
The core problem here is that group is indeed a reserved keyword in MySQL. When you’re dealing with reserved words, whether they’re table names or column names, you need to explicitly wrap them in backticks () to prevent syntax errors.
Try this instead:
RENAME TABLE `group` TO member;
That command should work perfectly fine for your situation. I had a legacy schema that used order as a table name, and ran into the very same problem until I wrapped it in backticks.
Just don’t forget to update all your queries anywhere else in your codebase that reference the old table name.
Hope this helps you resolve that syntax error and get your table renamed!