Renaming multiple tables - sql-server

Question

In SQL Server, I have a database abc. In this database I have hundreds of tables. Each of these tables is called xyz.table
I want to change all the tables to be called abc.table.
Do we have a way by which I can change all the names from xyz.table to abc.table in database abc?
I am able to manually change the name by changing the schema for each table to abc

Answer 1

You could have a cursor run over all your tables in the xyz schema and move all of those into the abc schema:
DECLARE TableCursor CURSOR FAST_FORWARD
FOR
-- get the table names for all tables in the 'xyz' schema
SELECT t.Name
FROM sys.tables t
WHERE schema_id = SCHEMA_ID('xyz')
DECLARE #TableName sysname
OPEN TableCursor
FETCH NEXT FROM TableCursor INTO #TableName
-- iterate over all tables found
WHILE ##FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
DECLARE #Stmt NVARCHAR(999)
-- construct T-SQL statement to move table to 'abc' schema
SET #Stmt = 'ALTER SCHEMA abc TRANSFER xyz.' + #TableName
EXEC (#Stmt)
FETCH NEXT FROM TableCursor INTO #TableName
END
CLOSE TableCursor
DEALLOCATE TableCursor

Answer 2

You can use Alter Schema with an undocumented Stored Procedure exec sp_MSforeachtable which basically iterates through all the tables .
exec sp_MSforeachtable "ALTER SCHEMA new_schema TRANSFER ? PRINT '? modified' "
change the new_schema keyword with your new Schema .
For details please go through the link
sp_MSforeachtable
Alter Schema for all the tables
As others have pointed out that the SP is deprecated so There is another way to do this by getting the names of the table from sys.tables
Declare #value int
Set #value=1
declare #sql varchar(max), #table varchar(50), #old varchar(50), #new varchar(50)
set #old = 'dbo'
set #new = 'abc'
while exists(select * from sys.tables where schema_name(schema_id) = #old)
begin
;With CTE as
(
Select *,row_number() over(order by object_id) rowNumber from sys.tables
where schema_name(schema_id) = #old
)
select #table= name from CTE where #value=rowNumber
Set #value=#value+1
set #sql = 'alter schema ' + #new + ' transfer ' + #old + '.' + #table
exec(#sql)
end

Answer 3

I'm assuming You've already created the schema abc in the database.
If not you can refer here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DDgv8uek6M
http://www.quackit.com/sql_server/sql_server_2008/tutorial/sql_server_database_schemas.cfm
To change the schema of all the tables in database you can use following system created msforeachtable stored procedure to rename schema of each table with alter schema.
exec sp_MSforeachtable "ALTER SCHEMA abc TRANSFER ? PRINT '? modified' "

Answer 4

Without using the undocumented/unsupported sp_MSforeachtable procedure, here's a somewhat concise way to select and/or run all of the necessary ALTER statements for every table on the given schema:
declare #oldSchema nvarchar(50) = 'abc' -- usually 'dbo'
declare #newSchema nvarchar(50) = 'xyz' -- use your new schema name
declare #sql nvarchar(max) =
(select
(select N'alter schema [' + #newSchema + '] transfer [' + #oldSchema + '].[' + name + ']
' as 'data()'
from sys.tables
where schema_name(schema_id) = #oldSchema for xml path(''), type)
.value('text()[1]','nvarchar(max)'))
-- You can select out the results for scrutiny
select #sql
-- Or you can execute the results directly
exec (#sql)
This avoids using a cursor, and uses brackets to escape table names that may conflict with SQL keywords.