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12.1.2 ALTER LOGFILE GROUP Syntax »
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12.1.1. ALTER DATABASE Syntax

ALTER {DATABASE | SCHEMA} [db_name]
    alter_specification ...
ALTER {DATABASE | SCHEMA} db_name
    UPGRADE DATA DIRECTORY NAME

alter_specification:
    [DEFAULT] CHARACTER SET [=] charset_name
  | [DEFAULT] COLLATE [=] collation_name

ALTER DATABASE enables you to change the overall characteristics of a database. These characteristics are stored in the db.opt file in the database directory. To use ALTER DATABASE, you need the ALTER privilege on the database. ALTER SCHEMA is a synonym for ALTER DATABASE.

The CHARACTER SET clause changes the default database character set. The COLLATE clause changes the default database collation. Section 9.1, “Character Set Support”, discusses character set and collation names.

You can see what character sets and collations are available using, respectively, the SHOW CHARACTER SET and SHOW COLLATION statements. See Section 12.5.6.2, “SHOW CHARACTER SET Syntax”, and Section 12.5.6.3, “SHOW COLLATION Syntax”, for more information.

The database name can be omitted from the first syntax, in which case the statement applies to the default database.

The syntax that includes the UPGRADE DATA DIRECTORY NAME clause updates the name of the directory associated with the database to use the encoding implemented in MySQL 5.1 for mapping database names to database directory names (see Section 8.2.3, “Mapping of Identifiers to Filenames”). This clause is for use under these conditions:

  • It is intended when upgrading MySQL to 5.1 or later from older versions.

  • It is intended to update a database directory name to the current encoding format if the name contains special characters that need encoding.

  • The statement is used by mysqlcheck (as invoked by mysql_upgrade).

For example,if a database in MySQL 5.0 has a name of a-b-c, the name contains instance of the ‘-’ character. In 5.0, the database directory is also named a-b-c, which is not necessarily safe for all filesystems. In MySQL 5.1 and up, the same database name is encoded as a@002db@002dc to produce a filesystem-neutral directory name.

When a MySQL installation is upgraded to MySQL 5.1 or later from an older version,the server displays a name such as a-b-c (which is in the old format) as #mysql50#a-b-c, and you must refer to the name using the #mysql50# prefix. Use UPGRADE DATA DIRECTORY NAME in this case to explicitly tell the server to re-encode the database directory name to the current encoding format: 

ALTER DATABASE `#mysql50#a-b-c` UPGRADE DATA DIRECTORY NAME;

After executing this statement, you can refer to the database as a-b-c without the special #mysql50# prefix.

MySQL Enterprise.  In a production environment, alteration of a database is not a common occurrence and may indicate a security breach. Advisors provided as part of the MySQL Enterprise Monitor automatically alert you when data definition statements are issued. For more information, see advisors.html.