Question

I can’t find the right syntax to rename a table in T-SQL when the table name contains an ‘]’ character.

It seems like the sp_rename procedure doesn’t use the same escaping rules as T-SQL DDL.

How can this be done?

CREATE SCHEMA MySchema

CREATE TABLE [MySchema].[MyTab]]le5](
    [Id] [bigint] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
    [SomeField] [bigint] NULL,
    [MyField] [nvarchar](4000) NULL)

EXEC sp_rename 'MySchema.MyTa]ble5', 'MyTable6'

Answer 1

Use the same syntax as CREATE TABLE…

EXEC sp_rename 'MySchema.[MyTab]]le5]', 'MyTable6'

Or rely on SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON and a different delimiter

EXEC sp_rename 'MySchema."MyTab]le5"', 'MyTable6'