MySQL, Check if a column exists in a table with SQL

Question

This works well for me.

SHOW COLUMNS FROM `table` LIKE 'fieldname';

With PHP it would be something like...

$result = mysql_query("SHOW COLUMNS FROM `table` LIKE 'fieldname'");
$exists = (mysql_num_rows($result))?TRUE:FALSE;

@julio

Thanks for the SQL example. I tried the query and I think it needs a small alteration to get it working properly.

SELECT * 
FROM information_schema.COLUMNS 
WHERE 
    TABLE_SCHEMA = 'db_name' 
AND TABLE_NAME = 'table_name' 
AND COLUMN_NAME = 'column_name'

That worked for me.

Thanks!

Just to help anyone who is looking for a concrete example of what @Mchl was describing, try something like

 SELECT * FROM information_schema.COLUMNS 
 WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = 'my_schema' AND TABLE_NAME = 'my_table' 
 AND COLUMN_NAME = 'my_column'`

If it returns false (zero results) then you know the column doesn't exist.

I threw this stored procedure together with a start from @lain's comments above, kind of nice if you need to call it more than a few times (and not needing php):

delimiter //
-- ------------------------------------------------------------
-- Use the inforamtion_schema to tell if a field exists.
-- Optional param dbName, defaults to current database
-- ------------------------------------------------------------
CREATE PROCEDURE fieldExists (
OUT _exists BOOLEAN,      -- return value
IN tableName CHAR(255),   -- name of table to look for
IN columnName CHAR(255),  -- name of column to look for
IN dbName CHAR(255)       -- optional specific db
) BEGIN
-- try to lookup db if none provided
SET @_dbName := IF(dbName IS NULL, database(), dbName);

IF CHAR_LENGTH(@_dbName) = 0
THEN -- no specific or current db to check against
  SELECT FALSE INTO _exists;
ELSE -- we have a db to work with
  SELECT IF(count(*) > 0, TRUE, FALSE) INTO _exists
  FROM information_schema.COLUMNS c
  WHERE 
  c.TABLE_SCHEMA    = @_dbName
  AND c.TABLE_NAME  = tableName
  AND c.COLUMN_NAME = columnName;
END IF;
END //
delimiter ;

Working with fieldExists

mysql> call fieldExists(@_exists, 'jos_vm_product', 'child_option', NULL) //
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

mysql> select @_exists //
+----------+
| @_exists |
+----------+
|        0 |
+----------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> call fieldExists(@_exists, 'jos_vm_product', 'child_options', 'etrophies') //
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

mysql> select @_exists //
+----------+
| @_exists |
+----------+
|        1 |
+----------+