Laravel 4: how to run a raw SQL?

Question

I want to rename a table in Laravel 4, but don't know how to do that.

The SQL is alter table photos rename to images. If there is an Eloquent solution, I'd also like to know how to run a raw SQL, cause sometimes there's just no alternative.

Answer 1

In the Laravel 4 manual - it talks about doing raw commands like this:

DB::select(DB::raw('RENAME TABLE photos TO images')); 

edit: I just found this in the Laravel 4 documentation which is probably better:

DB::statement('drop table users'); 

Update: In Laravel 4.1 (maybe 4.0 - I'm not sure) - you can also do this for a raw Where query:

$users = User::whereRaw('age > ? and votes = 100', array(25))->get(); 

Further Update If you are specifically looking to do a table rename - there is a schema command for that - see Mike's answer below for that.