Creating a table gives me an invalid syntax error message

Question

When using the following code:

CREATE TABLE stats 
(
  username varchar(12), 
  starting text, 
  ending text, 
  UNIQUE (username)
)

OR

CREATE TABLE stats 
(
  username varchar(12), 
  starting text, 
  ending blob, 
  UNIQUE (username)
)

I get an error message:

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 'starting text, ending text, UNIQUE (username))' at line 1

Am I doing something wrong? It worked perfectly fine before adding ending text inside the query.

Thanks for the edit, ajreal, forgot that's how they're supposed to look! — , Aug 09 '11 at 07:44

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 09 '11 at 07:44

5

starting is a reserved word, therefore you need to write it like this:

`starting` text

answered Aug 09 '11 at 07:44

Andreas Ågren

3,701
23
32

Thanks! Would I need to use it for all queries? Such as: `mysql_query("INSERT IGNORE INTO stats (username, starting, ending) VALUES ('$username', '$stats', '$stats')");` – Aug 09 '11 at 07:48
yes, otherwise you will get complaints about it like the one above. – glglgl Aug 09 '11 at 07:50

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 09 '11 at 07:47

1

starting is a reserved word in MySQL; therefore you either should take a different one or enclose it in `backticks`.

CREATE TABLE stats 
(
  username varchar(12), 
  xyzstarting text, 
  ending text, 
  UNIQUE (username)
)

works for me.

answered Aug 09 '11 at 07:47

glglgl

85,390
12
140
213

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 09 '11 at 07:48

1

starting is a reserved keyword

CREATE TABLE stats 
(
  username varchar(12), 
  NotUsingStarting text, 
  ending text, 
  UNIQUE (username)
)

answered Aug 09 '11 at 07:48

gbn

408,740
77
567
659

Creating a table gives me an invalid syntax error message

3 Answers3