How can I rename a column on an iceberg table in Athena?

Question

When I try to run the following query in Athena:

`ALTER TABLE my_iceberg_table ALTER COLUMN old_column_name TO new_column_name`

I get the following error:

`line 1:37: missing 'TO' at 'COLUMN'`

Based on the apache iceberg documentation this should be the correct syntax to rename the column: https://iceberg.apache.org/docs/latest/spark-ddl/#alter-table--rename-column
Furthermore when I run the same query through an external Starburst cluster it works, which further suggests that this should be the correct syntax. What is going wrong here?

Answer

Hello, you can check [this page](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/athena/latest/ug/querying-iceberg-evolving-table-schema.html) section "ALTER TABLE CHANGE COLUMN" (Changes the name, type, order or comment of a column).

It looks like it would be:

`ALTER TABLE my_iceberg_table CHANGE COLUMN old_column_name new_column_name`

Answer

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/athena/latest/ug/querying-iceberg-evolving-table-schema.html#querying-iceberg-alter-table-change-column

You need to use `CHANGE` and include the same type for the rename.

```sql
ALTER TABLE  CHANGE   ;
```

I had to do this yesterday, it's dumb but it works.

How can I rename a column on an iceberg table in Athena?

Relevant content