Rename column in Oracle 9i

Question

Can we rename column in Oracle 9i?
Thanks,
Alex

Answer 1

I don't think it should be that complicated unless you have any contraints to it. Do you have any foreign keys that are referencing to this particular table ? Also let me know what syntax are you using for dropping the column ?
Also look at the following example, try these things on some test/dummt table first.
Dropping a Column: Example
===========================
This statement illustrates the drop_column_clause with CASCADE CONSTRAINTS. Assume table t1 is created as follows:
CREATE TABLE t1 (
pk NUMBER PRIMARY KEY,
fk NUMBER,
c1 NUMBER,
c2 NUMBER,
CONSTRAINT ri FOREIGN KEY (fk) REFERENCES t1,
CONSTRAINT ck1 CHECK (pk > 0 and c1 > 0),
CONSTRAINT ck2 CHECK (c2 > 0)
An error will be returned for the following statements:
/* The next two statements return errors:
ALTER TABLE t1 DROP (pk); -- pk is a parent key
ALTER TABLE t1 DROP (c1); -- c1 is referenced by multicolumn
-- constraint ck1
Submitting the following statement drops column pk, the primary key constraint, the foreign key constraint, ri, and the check constraint, ck1:
ALTER TABLE t1 DROP (pk) CASCADE CONSTRAINTS;
If all columns referenced by the constraints defined on the dropped columns are also dropped, then CASCADE CONSTRAINTS is not required. For example, assuming that no other referential constraints from other tables refer to column pk, then it is valid to submit the following statement without the CASCADE CONSTRAINTS clause:
ALTER TABLE t1 DROP (pk, fk, c1);
Shalu