PHP MySQL Create Table

🗄️ PHP MySQL Create Table Tutorial

After creating a database, the next step is to create tables to store your data. PHP can execute SQL CREATE TABLE statements using mysqli or PDO.

1️⃣ Using `mysqli` (Procedural)

<?php
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "root";
$password = "";
$dbname = "test_db";

// Create connection
$conn = mysqli_connect($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

// Check connection
if (!$conn) {
die("Connection failed: " . mysqli_connect_error());
}

// SQL to create table
$sql = "CREATE TABLE users (
id INT(6) UNSIGNED AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
email VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
age INT(3),
reg_date TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
)";

// Execute query
if (mysqli_query($conn, $sql)) {
echo "Table 'users' created successfully";
} else {
echo "Error creating table: " . mysqli_error($conn);
}

// Close connection
mysqli_close($conn);
?>

<?php

$servername = "localhost";

$username = "root";

$password = "";

$dbname = "test_db";

// Create connection

$conn = mysqli_connect($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

// Check connection

if (!$conn) {

die("Connection failed: " . mysqli_connect_error());

}

// SQL to create table

$sql = "CREATE TABLE users (

id INT(6) UNSIGNED AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,

name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,

email VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL UNIQUE,

age INT(3),

reg_date TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP

)";

// Execute query

if (mysqli_query($conn, $sql)) {

echo "Table 'users' created successfully";

} else {

echo "Error creating table: " . mysqli_error($conn);

}

// Close connection

mysqli_close($conn);

Explanation:

id → Primary key, auto-incremented
name → VARCHAR, cannot be NULL
email → UNIQUE constraint
age → Integer
reg_date → Timestamp, default is current time

2️⃣ Using `mysqli` (Object-Oriented)

<?php
$conn = new mysqli("localhost", "root", "","test_db");

// Check connection
if ($conn->connect_error) {
die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
}

// SQL to create table
$sql = "CREATE TABLE users (
id INT(6) UNSIGNED AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
email VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
age INT(3),
reg_date TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
)";

// Execute query
if ($conn->query($sql) === TRUE) {
echo "Table 'users' created successfully";
} else {
echo "Error creating table: " . $conn->error;
}

// Close connection
$conn->close();
?>

<?php

$conn = new mysqli("localhost", "root", "","test_db");

// Check connection

if ($conn->connect_error) {

die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);

}

// SQL to create table

$sql = "CREATE TABLE users (

id INT(6) UNSIGNED AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,

name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,

email VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL UNIQUE,

age INT(3),

reg_date TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP

)";

// Execute query

if ($conn->query($sql) === TRUE) {

echo "Table 'users' created successfully";

} else {

echo "Error creating table: " . $conn->error;

}

// Close connection

$conn->close();

3️⃣ Using PDO

<?php
try {
$conn = new PDO("mysql:host=localhost;dbname=test_db", "root", "");
$conn->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);

$sql = "CREATE TABLE users (
id INT(6) UNSIGNED AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
email VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
age INT(3),
reg_date TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
)";

$conn->exec($sql);
echo "Table 'users' created successfully";
} catch(PDOException $e) {
echo "Error creating table: " . $e->getMessage();
}
?>

<?php

try {

$conn = new PDO("mysql:host=localhost;dbname=test_db", "root", "");

$conn->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);

$sql = "CREATE TABLE users (

id INT(6) UNSIGNED AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,

name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,

email VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL UNIQUE,

age INT(3),

reg_date TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP

)";

$conn->exec($sql);

echo "Table 'users' created successfully";

} catch(PDOException $e) {

echo "Error creating table: " . $e->getMessage();

}

✅ PDO::exec() is used for queries that don’t return results like CREATE, UPDATE, DELETE.

4️⃣ Key Points

Data types: INT, VARCHAR, TEXT, DATE, TIMESTAMP, etc.
Constraints:
- PRIMARY KEY → unique identifier
- UNIQUE → prevents duplicate values
- NOT NULL → column cannot be empty
- AUTO_INCREMENT → automatically increments numeric field
Always check connection and query errors.
Tables must be created inside an existing database.

PHP MySQL Create Table