Why would this MySQL query give an error?

Question

I can't for the life of me figure out what's wrong with this query:

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS 'plaintext' (
 'id' INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
 'name' VARCHAR NOT NULL,
 'text' TEXT NOT NULL,
 PRIMARY KEY ('id')
)

I am running MySQL version 5.7.14 on WAMP. I am getting this error:

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 ''id' INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT, 'name' VARCHAR NOT NULL, 'text' TEX' at line 2

When trying out the query in phpmyadmin it told me that a symbol name and column definition was expected near 'id' on line 2, and there is an unexpected beginning of a statement near 'id' at line 5.

No clue what this even means to be completely honest with you, I'm quite new to MySQL.

Thanks in advance!

David

remove the single quotes arrount table and column names – Jens Aug 02 '17 at 09:05 — Jens, Aug 02 '17 at 09:05

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 02 '17 at 09:07

0

I think that the issue is that you are not providing a size for your VARCHAR

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS 'plaintext' (
 'id' INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
 'name' VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
 'text' TEXT NOT NULL,
 PRIMARY KEY ('id')

)

answered Aug 02 '17 at 09:07

valanto

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This was indeed the problem, I guess the error checking for phpmyadmin just sucks. Why is it required to specify a size for a varchar? Why doesn't it just default to the maximum? – David C Aug 02 '17 at 09:13

Why would this MySQL query give an error?

1 Answers1