PHP MySQL Create Table

In this tutorial you will learn how to create tables in MySQL database using PHP.

## Creating Tables inside MySQL Database Using PHP
In the previous chapter we've learned how to create a database on MySQL server. Now it's time to create some tables inside the database that will actually hold the data. A table organizes the information into rows and columns.

The SQL [CREATE TABLE](http://www.bixiaguangnian.com/manual/sql/3390.html "CREATE TABLE") statement is used to create a table in database.

Let's make a SQL query using the CREATE TABLE statement, after that we will execute this SQL query through passing it to the PHP mysqli_query() function to finally create our table.

```php
<?php
/* Attempt MySQL server connection. Assuming you are running MySQL
server with default setting (user 'root' with no password) */
$link = mysqli_connect("localhost", "root", "", "demo");
 
// Check connection
if($link === false){
    die("ERROR: Could not connect. " . mysqli_connect_error());
}
 
// Attempt create table query execution
$sql = "CREATE TABLE persons(
    id INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
    first_name VARCHAR(30) NOT NULL,
    last_name VARCHAR(30) NOT NULL,
    email VARCHAR(70) NOT NULL UNIQUE
)";
if(mysqli_query($link, $sql)){
    echo "Table created successfully.";
} else{
    echo "ERROR: Could not able to execute $sql. " . mysqli_error($link);
}
 
// Close connection
mysqli_close($link);
?>
```
The PHP code in the above example creates a table named persons with four columns id, first_name, last_name and email inside the demo database.

Notice that each field name is followed by a data type declaration; this declaration specifies what type of data the column can hold, whether integer, string, date, etc.

There are a few additional constraints (also called modifiers) that are specified after the column name in the preceding SQL statement, like `NOT NULL`, `PRIMARY KEY`, `AUTO_INCREMENT`, etc. Constraints define rules regarding the values allowed in columns.

Please check out the tutorial on [SQL CREATE TABLE statement](http://www.bixiaguangnian.com/manual/sql/3390.html "SQL CREATE TABLE statement") for the detailed information about syntax, as well as the data types and constraints available in MySQL database system.

<div class="callout callout-info mb-3">Note: Any number of line breaks may occur within a SQL statement, provided that any line break does not break off keywords, values, expression, etc.</div>

<div class="callout callout-success mb-3">Tip: Setting the PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE attribute to PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION tells PDO to throw exceptions whenever a database error occurs.</div>