Cannot create table with PHP - php

Question

I want to create a table with variables passed into my php file. However, the SQL does not work when I pass in '12345' and works when I pass in 'a12345' instead.
This is my error that is given.
Error creating the table
query was
CREATE TABLE 123456 ( humidity VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL, temperature VARCHAR(50)
NOT NULL, gasquality VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL, timestamp DATETIME NOT NULL
DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP)
mysqlerror: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
'123456 ( humidity VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL, temperature VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
gasq' at line 1
Creating database failed!
and my function that creates the table
function CreateTableNode(&$formvars)
{
$serialno = $formvars['serialno'];
$qry = "CREATE TABLE ".$serialno." (".
" humidity VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL, ".
" temperature VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL, ".
" gasquality VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL, ".
" timestamp DATETIME NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP)";
if(!mysqli_query($this->connection,$qry))
{
$this->HandleDBError("Error creating the table \nquery was\n $qry");
return false;
}
return true;
}
I want to be able to create tables with numeric names like '12345' or '154124' for other purposes. Thanks alot!

Answer 1

My suggestion:
Provide a prefix to the table you created.
Moreover, I couldn't
see the primary key in your table. However, it is not necessary to
have it but if your table design doesn't have a primary key, you need
to rethink your design. It plays a vital role to join tables.
Your code can be rewritten as:
function CreateTableNode (&$formvars) {
$host = 'localhost';
$database = 'test';
$dbuser = 'root';
$dbpass = '';
try {
$pdo = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost; dbname=test', $dbuser, $dbpass);
} catch (PDOException $e) {
print "ERROR! : " . $e->getMessage() . "<br/>";
die();
}
$serialno = $formvars['serialno'];
$qry = "CREATE TABLE ".$serialno." ("."
`id` INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT ,
`humidity` VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL ,
`temperature` VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL ,
`gasquality` VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL ,
`timestamp` DATETIME NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
)";
$stmt = $pdo->prepare($qry);
$stmt->execute();
$pdo = null;
return true;
}

Answer 2

You just need to wrap some elements in the query with quotes as the duplicated thread mentioned by underscore_d says:
$qry = "CREATE TABLE '$serialno' (
'humidity' VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
'temperature' VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
'gasquality' VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
'timestamp' DATETIME NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP)";
This will fix your syntax errror in the query.
Marking to close the question as duplicated

Answer 3

The name of the entity was expected. (near "123456" at position 13)
Try adding a prefix to the table name as such
"t_12345"
CREATE TABLE t_12345
MySql does not allow numeric values as table name.

Answer 4

MySQL doesn't allow the creation of tables with names made solely of digits unless the name is quotes. See here
Identifiers may begin with a digit but unless quoted may not consist solely of digits.
Try quoting the name with backticks (`) or prefix the table name.

Answer 5

The error says "Creating database failed!".
So I assume you haven't selected the database in the connection query. You should do that or select it with "use mydatabase;" first. Of course, you may need to create the database first.
With PDO it would look like:
$conn = new PDO("mysql:host=$servername;dbname=myDB", $username, $password);
Please see dbname=myDB which preselects the right db for you.
Reference: https://www.w3schools.com/php/php_mysql_connect.asp
Using mysql functions, you can use:
mysql_select_db($dbname)
Reference: http://php.net/manual/en/function.mysql-select-db.php