Rename column SQL Server 2008

Question

I am using SQL Server 2008 and Navicat. I need to rename a column in a table using SQL.

ALTER TABLE table_name RENAME COLUMN old_name to new_name;
         


        

Answer 1

You should also specify the schema of the table or you might get this error:

Msg 15248, Level 11, State 1, Procedure sp_rename, Line 238 Either the parameter @objname is ambiguous or the claimed @objtype (COLUMN) is wrong.

If it is a deployment script I would also recommend adding some additional security to it.

IF EXISTS (
        SELECT 1
        FROM sys.columns
        WHERE
            name = 'OldColumnName' AND
            object_name(object_id) = 'TableName'
    ) AND
    NOT EXISTS (
        SELECT 1
        FROM sys.columns
        WHERE
            name = 'NewColumnName' AND
            object_name(object_id) = 'TableName'
    )
    EXEC sp_RENAME 'SchemaName.TableName.OldColumnName', 'NewColumnName', 'COLUMN';