Returning a MySQL row which has a hyphen in the title

Question

I have the following MySQL statement:

(SELECT car_id,firstname,surname,email,tel,postcode,add1,add2,town,county,optin-email FROM `contacts`) 
UNION 
(SELECT car_name,firstname,surname,email,tel,postcode,add1,add2,town,county,optin-email FROM `signup`)

Within this database is a row called optin-email - I cannot change the name of this row, I just wondered if there was a way to select it without making MySQL error?

A database *row* doesn't have a name, a *column* does. See the [MySQL manual](http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/identifiers.html). — DCoder, Dec 02 '13 at 11:03
possible duplicate of [When to use single quotes, double quotes, and backticks?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11321491/when-to-use-single-quotes-double-quotes-and-backticks) — fancyPants, Dec 02 '13 at 11:04
@fancyPants - I never asked when to use them. I didn't know what was wrong... so *no* it's not a duplicate — Barrie Reader, Dec 02 '13 at 11:05
The other question answers your problem, so it is a duplicate. — fancyPants, Dec 02 '13 at 11:05

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 02 '13 at 11:04

Try enclose the names within `` (bact-ticks)

Hyphens are a big problem because if you end up mapping a column name to a variable, most languages do not like to have hyphens inside variable names.

In MySQL, use the back-ticks. In standard SQL, use double-quotes.

Returning a MySQL row which has a hyphen in the title

1 Answers1