rename database in psql

Question

This may be a stupidly obvious question. Are you running psql as the postgres user?

e.g.

$ sudo -u postgres psql
# alter database FOO rename to BAR;
# \q

Which version of postgresql? From the 8.1 Documentation:

ALTER DATABASE name RENAME TO newname;

Only the database owner or a superuser can rename a database; non-superuser owners must also have the CREATEDB privilege. The current database cannot be renamed. (Connect to a different database if you need to do that.)

You might need priviliges to renmae db. Only db owner or super user can do that, owner also needs a createdb priv.

Also the database you're connected to cannot be renamed, you need to connect to a different one

You cannot rename a database you are connected to. Make sure you are disconnected before changing the dbname. In PGAdmin, you can just right-click on the database itself, go to properties, and rename it from there. As others have pointed out, you may also try the command : ALTER DATABASE (DB NAME) RENAME TO (NEW DB NAME);

Disconnect database (Ctrl + F2 in DataGrip)

And then:

$ psql -U postgres
postgres=# ALTER DATABASE db_a RENAME TO db_b;

GL