Create boolean column in MySQL with false as default value?

Question

You have to specify 0 (meaning false) or 1 (meaning true) as the default. Here is an example:

create table mytable (
     mybool boolean not null default 0
);

FYI: boolean is an alias for tinyint(1).

Here is the proof:

mysql> create table mytable (
    ->          mybool boolean not null default 0
    ->     );
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.35 sec)

mysql> insert into mytable () values ();
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> select * from mytable;
+--------+
| mybool |
+--------+
|      0 |
+--------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

FYI: My test was done on the following version of MySQL:

mysql> select version();
+----------------+
| version()      |
+----------------+
| 5.0.18-max-log |
+----------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

You can set a default value at creation time like:

CREATE TABLE Persons (
ID int NOT NULL,
LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Age int,
Married boolean DEFAULT false);

Use ENUM in MySQL for true / false it gives and accepts the true / false values without any extra code.

ALTER TABLE `itemcategory` ADD `aaa` ENUM('false', 'true') NOT NULL DEFAULT 'false'

If you are making the boolean column as not null then the default 'default' value is false; you don't have to explicitly specify it.