title: How can I rename a "column family" in HBase?
body: <p>I am using the HBase Shell and I have created a table with name 'student' and a column family called 'studentData'.</p>
  
  <pre><code>create 'student', 'studentData'
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>In the column family I have columns such as 'studentData:name', studentData:surname' and I have filled the table with data.</p>
  
  <pre><code>     ROW                                COLUMN+CELL                                                                                        
       1                                 column=studentData:name, timestamp=1489151422978, value=John                                       
       1                                 column=studentData:surname, timestamp=1489151401190, value=Black                                   
       2                                 column=studentData:name, timestamp=1489151432721, value=Kate                                       
       2                                 column=studentData:surname, timestamp=1489151447623, value=Red
      ...                                ...
      ...                                ...
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I would like to rename the column family from 'studentData' to 'data', without deleting the data which are stored in the columns which are under the column family, but unfortunately I have not found a way to do that yet.</p>
  
  <p>In case you have any idea, how to rename a column family, please let me know.</p>