Version 5.0 of MySQL has:

CREATE TABLE new_tbl LIKE orig_tbl;
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Use LIKE to create an empty table based on the definition of another table, including any column attributes and indexes defined in the original table (see http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/create-table.html ).

Maybe something like that, in combination with a SELECT from the table into the new table, and some table renames, would also be an option?

Liz