How to rename a column name in a table? Thanks first!

Question

I tried to drop a column age from table student by writing the
following in the sql plus environment as :
SQL> alter table student drop column age ;
but I found the following error
ORA-00905: 缺少关键字 (Lack of Key word)
I have oracle enterprise edition 8.0.5 installed at windows 2000
thank you
And I want to know how to rename a column name in a table?
thanks

Answer 1

In Oracle 8i, your syntax would have worked.  However, if I
recall correctly, in Oracle 8.0, you can't rename or drop a
column directly.  One way to get around that problem is to
create another table based on a select statement from your
original table, providing the new column name as an alias if you
want to change the column name, or omitting that column from the
select statement if you just want to drop it.  Then drop the
original table.  Then re-create the original table based on a
select statement from the other table.  Then you can drop the
other table.  Here is an example:
CREATE TABLE temporary_table_name
AS
SELECT age AS new_column_name,
       other_columns
FROM   student
DROP TABLE student
CREATE TABLE student
AS
SELECT *
FROM   temporary_table_name
DROP TABLE temporary_table_name
Something that you need to consider before doing this is
dependencies.  You need to make a list of all your dependecies
before you do this, so that you can re-create them afterwards. 
If there are a lot of them, it might be worthwhile to do
something else, like creating a view with an alias for the
column or just providing an alias in a select.  It depends on
what you need the different column name for.