How to Create a Table in MySQL

Basic Example

This example shows how to create a users table:

CREATE TABLE users (
    id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    email TEXT
);

The resulting table has two columns:

• id, which is defined to be an auto-incrementing integer and the table’s primary key
• email

How to Create a Non-Nullable Columns

You can create non-nullable columns by adding a NOT NULL constraint:

CREATE TABLE users (
   id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
   email TEXT NOT NULL
);

The PRIMARY KEY column has the NOT NULL constraint added automatically, without specifying it explicitly.

How to Create Columns With Default Values

CREATE TABLE users (
   id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
   email TEXT NOT NULL,
   credits_used INTEGER DEFAULT 0,
   subscribed_to_newsletter BOOLEAN NOT NULL DEFAULT false
);

Here the following columns specify default values:

• credits_used with default value 0
• subscribed_to_newsletter with default value false. This column is furthermore defined to be non-nullable

Learn More

• Read about composite primary keys in MySQL and how to create a table with a composite primary key in MySQL
• How to Create a Temporary Table in MySQL