Create MySQL Tables

The table creation command requires:
Name of the table
Names of fields
Definitions for each field
Syntax:
Here is generic SQL syntax to create a MySQL table:
CREATE TABLE table_name (column_name column_type);
Now we will create following table in TUTORIALS database.
tutorials_tbl(
tutorial_id INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
tutorial_title VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
tutorial_author VARCHAR(40) NOT NULL,
submission_date DATE,
PRIMARY KEY ( tutorial_id )
);
Here few items need explanation:
Field Attribute NOT NULL is being used because we do not want this field to be NULL. SO if user will try to create a record with NULL value then MySQL will raise an error.
Field Attribute AUTO_INCREMENT tells to MySQL to go ahead and add the next available number to the id field.
Keyword PRIMARY KEY is used to define a column as primary key. You can use multiple columns separated by comma to define a primary key.
Creating Tables from Command Prompt:
This is easy to create a MySQL table from mysql> prompt. You will use SQL command CREATE TABLE to create a table.
Example:
Here is an example which creates tutorials_tbl:
root@host# mysql -u root -p
Enter password:*******
mysql> use TUTORIALS;
Database changed
mysql> CREATE TABLE tutorials_tbl(
-> tutorial_id INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
-> tutorial_title VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
-> tutorial_author VARCHAR(40) NOT NULL,
-> submission_date DATE,
-> PRIMARY KEY ( tutorial_id )
-> );
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.16 sec)
mysql>
NOTE: MySQL does not terminate a command until you give a semi colon (;) at the end of SQL command.
Creating Tables Using PHP Script:
To create new table in any existing database you would need to use PHP function mysql_query(). You will pass its second argument with proper SQL command to create a table.