Solve mysql CREATE TABLE syntax questions

Question

I try to create a table in mysql using the following command:

CREATE TABLE keys (id INT(10), key VARCHAR(100));

But it always gives me an error similar to this:

Error 1064 (42000): There is an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual for your MySQL server version for "keys (id INT(10), key VARCHAR(100))" on line 1 Correct syntax to use nearby `

Answer 1

You should be very careful about naming tables and columns as you may face a lot of problems in the future.

I recommend finding names that are not MySQL reserved words.

If you still want to keep these names, you should surround them with backticks.

mysql> CREATE TABLE keys (id INT(10), key VARCHAR(100));
ERROR 1064 (42000): You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'keys (id INT(10), key VARCHAR(100))' at line 1

mysql> CREATE TABLE `keys` (id INT(10), `key` VARCHAR(100));
Query OK, 0 rows affected, 1 warning (0.97 sec)

mysql> show create table keys;
ERROR 1064 (42000): You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'keys' at line 1
mysql>
mysql>
mysql> show create table `keys`;
+-------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Table | Create Table                                                                                                                                        |
+-------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| keys  | CREATE TABLE `keys` (
  `id` int DEFAULT NULL,
  `key` varchar(100) DEFAULT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4 COLLATE=utf8mb4_0900_ai_ci |
+-------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.01 sec)

Please note that backticks must be used when using tables

Answer 2

So the table name keys and field key are reserved in the Mysql namespace. If you choose a different table name (e.g. keys_tbl) and rename the second field to key_id, your code will work correctly.