RENAME TABLE tbl_name TO new_tbl_name
    [, tbl_name2 TO new_tbl_name2] ...

This statement renames one or more tables. The rename operation is done atomically, which means that no other session can access any of the tables while the rename is running.

For example, a table named old_table can be renamed to new_table as shown here:

RENAME TABLE old_table TO new_table;

This statement is equivalent to the following ALTER TABLE statement:

ALTER TABLE old_table RENAME new_table;

If the statement renames more than one table, renaming operations are done from left to right. If you want to swap two table names, you can do so like this (assuming that tmp_table does not already exist):

RENAME TABLE old_table TO tmp_table,
             new_table TO old_table,
             tmp_table TO new_table;

MySQL checks the destination table name before checking whether the source table exists. For example, if new_table already exists and old_table does not, the following statement fails as shown here:

mysql> SHOW TABLES;
+----------------+
| Tables_in_mydb |
+----------------+
| table_a        |
+----------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> RENAME TABLE table_b TO table_a;
ERROR 1050 (42S01): Table 'table_a' already exists

As long as two databases are on the same file system, you can use RENAME TABLE to move a table from one database to another:

RENAME TABLE current_db.tbl_name TO other_db.tbl_name;

You can use this method to move all tables from one database to a different one, in effect renaming the database. (MySQL has no single statement to perform this task.)

If there are any triggers associated with a table which is moved to a different database using RENAME TABLE, then the statement fails with the error Trigger in wrong schema.

Foreign keys that point to the renamed table are not automatically updated. In such cases, you must drop and re-create the foreign keys in order for them to function properly.

RENAME TABLE also works for views, as long as you do not try to rename a view into a different database.

Any privileges granted specifically for the renamed table or view are not migrated to the new name. They must be changed manually.

When you execute RENAME TABLE, you cannot have any locked tables or active transactions. You must also have the ALTER and DROP privileges on the original table, and the CREATE and INSERT privileges on the new table.

If MySQL encounters any errors in a multiple-table rename, it does a reverse rename for all renamed tables to return everything to its original state.

You cannot use RENAME TABLE to rename a TEMPORARY table. However, you can use ALTER TABLE with temporary tables.

Like RENAME TABLE, ALTER TABLE ... RENAME can also be used to move a table to a different database. Regardless of the statement used to perform the rename, if the rename operation would move the table to a database located on a different file system, the success of the outcome is platform specific and depends on the underlying operating system calls used to move the table files.