Why is is giving me an SQL syntax error?

Question

Do you have any idea why i get this:

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 '``, `title` varchar(255) collate latin1_general_ci NOT NULL default ``,' at line 3

The code is like this (the part im having problem with...)

$sql = 'CREATE TABLE `forum` (
                        `postid` bigint(20) NOT NULL auto_increment,
                        `author` varchar(255) collate latin1_general_ci NOT NULL default ``,
                        `title` varchar(255) collate latin1_general_ci NOT NULL default ``,
                        `post` mediumtext collate latin1_general_ci NOT NULL,
                        `showtime` varchar(255) collate latin1_general_ci NOT NULL default ``,
                        `realtime` bigint(20) NOT NULL default `0`,
                        `lastposter` varchar(255) collate latin1_general_ci NOT NULL default ``,
                        `numreplies` bigint(20) NOT NULL default `0`,
                        `parentid` bigint(20) NOT NULL default `0`,
                        `lastrepliedto` bigint(20) NOT NULL default `0`,
                        `author_avatar` varchar(30) collate latin1_general_ci NOT NULL default `default`,
                        `type` varchar(2) collate latin1_general_ci NOT NULL default `1`,
                        `stick` varchar(6) collate latin1_general_ci NOT NULL default `0`,
                        `numtopics` bigint(20) NOT NULL default `0`,
                        `cat` bigint(20) NOT NULL,
                        PRIMARY KEY  (`postid`)
                        );';
                mysql_query($sql,$con) or die(mysql_error());

Help would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

You are using backticks instead of quotes for strings. Change this:

default ``

to this:

default ''

The full statement should be:

CREATE TABLE `forum` (
                    `postid` bigint(20) NOT NULL auto_increment,
                    `author` varchar(255) collate latin1_general_ci NOT NULL default '',
                    `title` varchar(255) collate latin1_general_ci NOT NULL default '',
                    `post` mediumtext collate latin1_general_ci NOT NULL,
                    `showtime` varchar(255) collate latin1_general_ci NOT NULL default '',
                    `realtime` bigint(20) NOT NULL default '0',
                    `lastposter` varchar(255) collate latin1_general_ci NOT NULL default '',
                    `numreplies` bigint(20) NOT NULL default '0',
                    `parentid` bigint(20) NOT NULL default '0',
                    `lastrepliedto` bigint(20) NOT NULL default '0',
                    `author_avatar` varchar(30) collate latin1_general_ci NOT NULL default 'default',
                    `type` varchar(2) collate latin1_general_ci NOT NULL default '1',
                    `stick` varchar(6) collate latin1_general_ci NOT NULL default '0',
                    `numtopics` bigint(20) NOT NULL default '0',
                    `cat` bigint(20) NOT NULL,
                    PRIMARY KEY  (`postid`)
                    );

Answer 2

`author` varchar(255) collate latin1_general_ci NOT NULL default ``,

'author' is a column name, hence why it goes it backticks. But the default '' is a value so it should be in quotation marks, not backticks, methinks.

If this is the case, same goes for all other defaults.

Answer 3

Thanks for responses. I had actually done this before (putting ' instead of ` ), but it just showed me a blank page....

I figured out my problem. I either had to put backslash before each ' or just change the

$sql = 'CREATE TABLE `forum` (

to

$sql = "CREATE TABLE `forum` (

(note the quotes)

Thanks anyway, it helped me figure it out!