# Rename columns

Shape / columns

A variant of [Choose and rename columns](https://meridian.online/operations/choose-and-rename-columns).

Give chosen columns new names, one by one or from old-name and new-name pairs.

Page: <https://meridian.online/operations/choose-and-rename-columns/rename-columns>

## Status

Runs as a SQL step.

arcform carries it as a `sql:` step today.

## The DuckDB step

rename columns from old-name and new-name pairs

It reads the `orders` table the proofs share. Create it first:

```sql
CREATE TABLE orders AS SELECT * FROM (VALUES
  (1,  'Alice Ng',      'north', DATE '2026-01-03', 120.00, 'widget', 'a|b',   '{"channel":"web","items":[1,2]}'),
  (2,  'alice ng',      'north', DATE '2026-01-05',  80.50, 'gadget', 'b',     '{"channel":"shop","items":[3]}'),
  (3,  'Bob  Okafor',   'south', DATE '2026-01-05', 300.00, 'widget', 'a|c',   '{"channel":"web","items":[4,5,6]}'),
  (4,  'Carla Díaz',    'east',  DATE '2026-01-09',  NULL,  'gizmo',  NULL,    '{"channel":"web","items":[]}'),
  (5,  'Bob Okafor',    'south', DATE '2026-01-12',  45.25, 'gadget', 'c',     '{"channel":"phone","items":[7]}'),
  (6,  'Dev Patel',     'west',  DATE '2026-01-12', 510.00, 'widget', 'a',     '{"channel":"web","items":[8,9]}'),
  (7,  'Carla Diaz',    'east',  DATE '2026-01-20',  99.99, 'gizmo',  'b|c',   '{"channel":"shop","items":[10]}'),
  (8,  'Dev Patel',     'west',  DATE '2026-02-02', 510.00, 'widget', 'a',     '{"channel":"web","items":[8,9]}'),
  (9,  'Eve Larsen',    NULL,    DATE '2026-02-03',  15.00, 'gadget', NULL,    '{"channel":"web","items":[11]}'),
  (10, 'Alice Ng',      'north', DATE '2026-02-10', 220.00, 'gizmo',  'a|b|c', '{"channel":"phone","items":[12,13]}')
) t(order_id, customer, region, order_date, amount, product, tags, meta);
```

Then run the statement:

```sql
CREATE TEMP TABLE result AS
SELECT * RENAME (customer AS customer_name, amount AS total) FROM orders;
SELECT order_id, customer_name, total FROM result;
SELECT CASE WHEN ((SELECT list(column_name) FROM (DESCRIBE result)) = ['order_id', 'customer_name', 'region', 'order_date', 'total', 'product', 'tags', 'meta'] AND (SELECT sum(total) FROM result) = 1900.74) THEN 'as expected' ELSE error('the two columns were not renamed in place with their values unchanged') END AS verdict;
```

It needs nothing installed beyond DuckDB itself.

## What other tools call it

Meridian's classification; an independent blind rating agreed on 95.7% of 324 rows (variant, version 3).

- Bruin: [`Column name mapping (ingestr assets)`](https://getbruin.com/docs/bruin/assets/columns.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- Apache DataFusion: [`AS`](https://datafusion.apache.org/user-guide/sql/select.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- Apache DataFusion: [`alias`](https://docs.rs/datafusion/latest/datafusion/dataframe/struct.DataFrame.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- Apache DataFusion: [`with_column_renamed`](https://docs.rs/datafusion/latest/datafusion/dataframe/struct.DataFrame.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- Duckle: [`Rename Columns`](https://github.com/slothflowlabs/duckle/blob/f85f8960edfb6efbf4cb89d58a7b32e16df0e867/website/docs/components.html) (read 2026-09-25)
- EasyMorph: [`Rename columns`](https://help.easymorph.com/doku.php?id=transformations:rename) (read 2026-09-27)
- AWS Glue: [`RenameField`](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/glue/latest/dg/transforms-configure-rename-field.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- AWS Glue: [`RenameField`](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/glue/latest/dg/aws-glue-api-crawler-pyspark-transforms-RenameField.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- Ibis: [`Alias`](https://github.com/ibis-project/ibis/blob/05d2b293344e86cb41c1a426071734f7e270335a/ibis/expr/operations/core.py) (read 2026-09-27)
- KNIME Analytics Platform: [`Column Renamer`](https://api.hub.knime.com/nodes/*73ANVk-wk2gNxP21?details=full) (read 2026-09-27)
- KNIME Analytics Platform: [`DB Column Renamer`](https://api.hub.knime.com/nodes/*bpeO6IPiL4EdCUUQ?details=full) (read 2026-09-27)
- Apache NiFi: [`RenameRecordField`](https://nifi.apache.org/components/org.apache.nifi.processors.standard.RenameRecordField/) (read 2026-09-27)
- OpenRefine: [`Rename this column`](https://openrefine.org/docs/manual/columnediting#renaming-removing-and-moving) (read 2026-09-27)
- Polars: [`DataFrame.rename`](https://docs.pola.rs/api/python/stable/reference/dataframe/modify_select.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- Polars: [`Expr.alias`](https://docs.pola.rs/api/python/stable/reference/expressions/columns.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- Power Query M: [`Table.RenameColumns`](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powerquery-m/table-functions#column-operations) (read 2026-09-27)
- RapidMiner Studio: [`Rename`](https://docs.rapidminer.com/latest/studio/operators/blending/attributes/names_and_roles/rename.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- RapidMiner Studio: [`Rename (In Database)`](https://docs.rapidminer.com/latest/studio/operators/extensions/In-Database%20Processing/indb_blending/indb_rename.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- Tableau Prep: [`Rename Field`](https://help.tableau.com/current/prep/en-us/prep_clean.htm) (read 2026-09-27)
- Trifacta: [`Rename Transform`](https://help.alteryx.com/aac/en/trifacta-classic/wrangle-language/language-appendices/transforms.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- Trifacta: [`Rename columns`](https://help.alteryx.com/aac/en/trifacta-classic/reference/transformation-reference.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- VisiData: [`rename-col`](https://github.com/saulpw/visidata/blob/7609212ec2febafa9caba7183cbebfaf49627909/visidata/rename_col.py#L26) (read 2026-09-23)