Can MySQL Tables Be Named with Only Numbers?

Can MySQL Tables Be Named Using Only Numbers?

While designing a program that dynamically creates tables, a common question arises: can table names consist solely of numbers in MySQL?

Table Naming Conventions in MySQL

As a relational database management system, MySQL follows specific rules for naming identifiers, including tables. According to the official documentation, an identifier may start with a digit but cannot be composed entirely of numbers.

To understand this, consider the following statement:

SELECT * FROM 12345;

This query is invalid because "12345" is an unquoted number.

However, there are two exceptions to this rule:

1. Quotes

Enclosing a numeric string in quotes allows it to be used as a table name:

SELECT * FROM `12345`;

2. ANSI Mode

If the ANSI quotes mode is enabled, the following syntax is valid:

SET @@session.sql_mode=ANSI_QUOTES;
SELECT * FROM "12345";

In conclusion, while MySQL generally does not allow table names to consist solely of numbers, it provides two methods to override this restriction: using quotes or setting the ANSI quotes mode.

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