MySQL :: MySQL 8.0 Reference Manual :: 9.3 Keywords and Reserved Words

MySQL 8.0 Reference Manual / Language Structure / Keywords and Reserved Words

9.3 Keywords and Reserved Words

Keywords are words that have significance in SQL. Certain keywords, such as SELECT, DELETE, or BIGINT, are reserved and require special treatment for use as identifiers such as table and column names. This may also be true for the names of built-in functions.

Nonreserved keywords are permitted as identifiers without quoting. Reserved words are permitted as identifiers if you quote them as described in Section 9.2, “Schema Object Names”:

mysql> CREATE TABLE interval (begin INT, end INT);
ERROR 1064 (42000): You have an error in your SQL syntax ...
near 'interval (begin INT, end INT)'

BEGIN and END are keywords but not reserved, so their use as identifiers does not require quoting. INTERVAL is a reserved keyword and must be quoted to be used as an identifier:

mysql> CREATE TABLE `interval` (begin INT, end INT);
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

Exception: A word that follows a period in a qualified name must be an identifier, so it need not be quoted even if it is reserved:

mysql> CREATE TABLE mydb.interval (begin INT, end INT);
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

Names of built-in functions are permitted as identifiers but may require care to be used as such. For example, COUNT is acceptable as a column name. However, by default, no whitespace is permitted in function invocations between the function name and the following ( character. This requirement enables the parser to distinguish whether the name is used in a function call or in nonfunction context. For further details on recognition of function names, see Section 9.2.4, “Function Name Parsing and Resolution”.

The INFORMATION_SCHEMA.KEYWORDS table lists the words considered keywords by MySQL and indicates whether they are reserved. See Section 25.14, “The INFORMATION_SCHEMA KEYWORDS Table”.

MySQL 8.0 Keywords and Reserved Words

The following list shows the keywords and reserved words in MySQL 8.0, along with changes to individual words from version to version. Reserved keywords are marked with (R). In addition, _FILENAME is reserved.

At some point, you might upgrade to a higher version, so it is a good idea to have a look at future reserved words, too. You can find these in the manuals that cover higher versions of MySQL. Most of the reserved words in the list are forbidden by standard SQL as column or table names (for example, GROUP). A few are reserved because MySQL needs them and uses a yacc parser.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

ACCESSIBLE (R)
ACCOUNT
ACTION
ACTIVE; added in 8.0.14 (nonreserved)
ADD (R)
ADMIN; became nonreserved in 8.0.12
AFTER
AGAINST
AGGREGATE
ALGORITHM
ALL (R)
ALTER (R)
ALWAYS
ANALYSE; removed in 8.0.1
ANALYZE (R)
AND (R)
ANY
ARRAY (R); added in 8.0.17 (reserved)
AS (R)
ASC (R)
ASCII
ASENSITIVE (R)
AT
AUTOEXTEND_SIZE
AUTO_INCREMENT
AVG
AVG_ROW_LENGTH

BACKUP
BEFORE (R)
BEGIN
BETWEEN (R)
BIGINT (R)
BINARY (R)
BINLOG
BIT
BLOB (R)
BLOCK
BOOL
BOOLEAN
BOTH (R)
BTREE
BUCKETS; added in 8.0.2 (nonreserved)
BY (R)
BYTE

CACHE
CALL (R)
CASCADE (R)
CASCADED
CASE (R)
CATALOG_NAME
CHAIN
CHANGE (R)
CHANGED
CHANNEL
CHAR (R)
CHARACTER (R)
CHARSET
CHECK (R)
CHECKSUM
CIPHER
CLASS_ORIGIN
CLIENT
CLONE; added in 8.0.3 (nonreserved)
CLOSE
COALESCE
CODE
COLLATE (R)
COLLATION
COLUMN (R)
COLUMNS
COLUMN_FORMAT
COLUMN_NAME
COMMENT
COMMIT
COMMITTED
COMPACT
COMPLETION
COMPONENT
COMPRESSED
COMPRESSION
CONCURRENT
CONDITION (R)
CONNECTION
CONSISTENT
CONSTRAINT (R)
CONSTRAINT_CATALOG
CONSTRAINT_NAME
CONSTRAINT_SCHEMA
CONTAINS
CONTEXT
CONTINUE (R)
CONVERT (R)
CPU
CREATE (R)
CROSS (R)
CUBE (R); became reserved in 8.0.1
CUME_DIST (R); added in 8.0.2 (reserved)
CURRENT
CURRENT_DATE (R)
CURRENT_TIME (R)
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP (R)
CURRENT_USER (R)
CURSOR (R)
CURSOR_NAME

DATA
DATABASE (R)
DATABASES (R)
DATAFILE
DATE
DATETIME
DAY
DAY_HOUR (R)
DAY_MICROSECOND (R)
DAY_MINUTE (R)
DAY_SECOND (R)
DEALLOCATE
DEC (R)
DECIMAL (R)
DECLARE (R)
DEFAULT (R)
DEFAULT_AUTH
DEFINER
DEFINITION; added in 8.0.4 (nonreserved)
DELAYED (R)
DELAY_KEY_WRITE
DELETE (R)
DENSE_RANK (R); added in 8.0.2 (reserved)
DESC (R)
DESCRIBE (R)
DESCRIPTION; added in 8.0.4 (nonreserved)
DES_KEY_FILE; removed in 8.0.3
DETERMINISTIC (R)
DIAGNOSTICS
DIRECTORY
DISABLE
DISCARD
DISK
DISTINCT (R)
DISTINCTROW (R)
DIV (R)
DO
DOUBLE (R)
DROP (R)
DUAL (R)
DUMPFILE
DUPLICATE
DYNAMIC

EACH (R)
ELSE (R)
ELSEIF (R)
EMPTY (R); added in 8.0.4 (reserved)
ENABLE
ENCLOSED (R)
ENCRYPTION
END
ENDS
ENFORCED; added in 8.0.16 (nonreserved)
ENGINE
ENGINES
ENUM
ERROR
ERRORS
ESCAPE
ESCAPED (R)
EVENT
EVENTS
EVERY
EXCEPT (R)
EXCHANGE
EXCLUDE; added in 8.0.2 (nonreserved)
EXECUTE
EXISTS (R)
EXIT (R)
EXPANSION
EXPIRE
EXPLAIN (R)
EXPORT
EXTENDED
EXTENT_SIZE

FALSE (R)
FAST
FAULTS
FETCH (R)
FIELDS
FILE
FILE_BLOCK_SIZE
FILTER
FIRST
FIRST_VALUE (R); added in 8.0.2 (reserved)
FIXED
FLOAT (R)
FLOAT4 (R)
FLOAT8 (R)
FLUSH
FOLLOWING; added in 8.0.2 (nonreserved)
FOLLOWS
FOR (R)
FORCE (R)
FOREIGN (R)
FORMAT
FOUND
FROM (R)
FULL
FULLTEXT (R)
FUNCTION (R); became reserved in 8.0.1

GENERAL
GENERATED (R)
GEOMCOLLECTION; added in 8.0.11 (nonreserved)
GEOMETRY
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION
GET (R)
GET_FORMAT
GET_MASTER_PUBLIC_KEY; added in 8.0.4 (reserved); became nonreserved in 8.0.11
GLOBAL
GRANT (R)
GRANTS
GROUP (R)
GROUPING (R); added in 8.0.1 (reserved)
GROUPS (R); added in 8.0.2 (reserved)
GROUP_REPLICATION

HANDLER
HASH
HAVING (R)
HELP
HIGH_PRIORITY (R)
HISTOGRAM; added in 8.0.2 (nonreserved)
HISTORY; added in 8.0.3 (nonreserved)
HOST
HOSTS
HOUR
HOUR_MICROSECOND (R)
HOUR_MINUTE (R)
HOUR_SECOND (R)

IDENTIFIED
IF (R)
IGNORE (R)
IGNORE_SERVER_IDS
IMPORT
IN (R)
INACTIVE; added in 8.0.14 (nonreserved)
INDEX (R)
INDEXES
INFILE (R)
INITIAL_SIZE
INNER (R)
INOUT (R)
INSENSITIVE (R)
INSERT (R)
INSERT_METHOD
INSTALL
INSTANCE
INT (R)
INT1 (R)
INT2 (R)
INT3 (R)
INT4 (R)
INT8 (R)
INTEGER (R)
INTERVAL (R)
INTO (R)
INVISIBLE
INVOKER
IO
IO_AFTER_GTIDS (R)
IO_BEFORE_GTIDS (R)
IO_THREAD
IPC
IS (R)
ISOLATION
ISSUER
ITERATE (R)

JOIN (R)
JSON
JSON_TABLE (R); added in 8.0.4 (reserved)

KEY (R)
KEYS (R)
KEY_BLOCK_SIZE
KILL (R)

LAG (R); added in 8.0.2 (reserved)
LANGUAGE
LAST
LAST_VALUE (R); added in 8.0.2 (reserved)
LATERAL (R); added in 8.0.14 (reserved)
LEAD (R); added in 8.0.2 (reserved)
LEADING (R)
LEAVE (R)
LEAVES
LEFT (R)
LESS
LEVEL
LIKE (R)
LIMIT (R)
LINEAR (R)
LINES (R)
LINESTRING
LIST
LOAD (R)
LOCAL
LOCALTIME (R)
LOCALTIMESTAMP (R)
LOCK (R)
LOCKED; added in 8.0.1 (nonreserved)
LOCKS
LOGFILE
LOGS
LONG (R)
LONGBLOB (R)
LONGTEXT (R)
LOOP (R)
LOW_PRIORITY (R)

MASTER
MASTER_AUTO_POSITION
MASTER_BIND (R)
MASTER_CONNECT_RETRY
MASTER_DELAY
MASTER_HEARTBEAT_PERIOD
MASTER_HOST
MASTER_LOG_FILE
MASTER_LOG_POS
MASTER_PASSWORD
MASTER_PORT
MASTER_PUBLIC_KEY_PATH; added in 8.0.4 (nonreserved)
MASTER_RETRY_COUNT
MASTER_SERVER_ID
MASTER_SSL
MASTER_SSL_CA
MASTER_SSL_CAPATH
MASTER_SSL_CERT
MASTER_SSL_CIPHER
MASTER_SSL_CRL
MASTER_SSL_CRLPATH
MASTER_SSL_KEY
MASTER_SSL_VERIFY_SERVER_CERT (R)
MASTER_TLS_VERSION
MASTER_USER
MATCH (R)
MAXVALUE (R)
MAX_CONNECTIONS_PER_HOUR
MAX_QUERIES_PER_HOUR
MAX_ROWS
MAX_SIZE
MAX_UPDATES_PER_HOUR
MAX_USER_CONNECTIONS
MEDIUM
MEDIUMBLOB (R)
MEDIUMINT (R)
MEDIUMTEXT (R)
MEMBER (R); added in 8.0.17 (reserved)
MEMORY
MERGE
MESSAGE_TEXT
MICROSECOND
MIDDLEINT (R)
MIGRATE
MINUTE
MINUTE_MICROSECOND (R)
MINUTE_SECOND (R)
MIN_ROWS
MOD (R)
MODE
MODIFIES (R)
MODIFY
MONTH
MULTILINESTRING
MULTIPOINT
MULTIPOLYGON
MUTEX
MYSQL_ERRNO

NAME
NAMES
NATIONAL
NATURAL (R)
NCHAR
NDB
NDBCLUSTER
NESTED; added in 8.0.4 (nonreserved)
NETWORK_NAMESPACE; added in 8.0.16 (nonreserved)
NEVER
NEW
NEXT
NO
NODEGROUP
NONE
NOT (R)
NOWAIT; added in 8.0.1 (nonreserved)
NO_WAIT
NO_WRITE_TO_BINLOG (R)
NTH_VALUE (R); added in 8.0.2 (reserved)
NTILE (R); added in 8.0.2 (reserved)
NULL (R)
NULLS; added in 8.0.2 (nonreserved)
NUMBER
NUMERIC (R)
NVARCHAR

OF (R); added in 8.0.1 (reserved)
OFFSET
OJ; added in 8.0.16 (nonreserved)
OLD; added in 8.0.14 (nonreserved)
ON (R)
ONE
ONLY
OPEN
OPTIMIZE (R)
OPTIMIZER_COSTS (R)
OPTION (R)
OPTIONAL; added in 8.0.13 (nonreserved)
OPTIONALLY (R)
OPTIONS
OR (R)
ORDER (R)
ORDINALITY; added in 8.0.4 (nonreserved)
ORGANIZATION; added in 8.0.4 (nonreserved)
OTHERS; added in 8.0.2 (nonreserved)
OUT (R)
OUTER (R)
OUTFILE (R)
OVER (R); added in 8.0.2 (reserved)
OWNER

PACK_KEYS
PAGE
PARSER
PARTIAL
PARTITION (R)
PARTITIONING
PARTITIONS
PASSWORD
PATH; added in 8.0.4 (nonreserved)
PERCENT_RANK (R); added in 8.0.2 (reserved)
PERSIST; became nonreserved in 8.0.16
PERSIST_ONLY; added in 8.0.2 (reserved); became nonreserved in 8.0.16
PHASE
PLUGIN
PLUGINS
PLUGIN_DIR
POINT
POLYGON
PORT
PRECEDES
PRECEDING; added in 8.0.2 (nonreserved)
PRECISION (R)
PREPARE
PRESERVE
PREV
PRIMARY (R)
PRIVILEGES
PROCEDURE (R)
PROCESS; added in 8.0.11 (nonreserved)
PROCESSLIST
PROFILE
PROFILES
PROXY
PURGE (R)

QUARTER
QUERY
QUICK

RANGE (R)
RANK (R); added in 8.0.2 (reserved)
READ (R)
READS (R)
READ_ONLY
READ_WRITE (R)
REAL (R)
REBUILD
RECOVER
RECURSIVE (R); added in 8.0.1 (reserved)
REDOFILE; removed in 8.0.3
REDO_BUFFER_SIZE
REDUNDANT
REFERENCE; added in 8.0.4 (nonreserved)
REFERENCES (R)
REGEXP (R)
RELAY
RELAYLOG
RELAY_LOG_FILE
RELAY_LOG_POS
RELAY_THREAD
RELEASE (R)
RELOAD
REMOTE; added in 8.0.3 (nonreserved); removed in 8.0.14
REMOVE
RENAME (R)
REORGANIZE
REPAIR
REPEAT (R)
REPEATABLE
REPLACE (R)
REPLICATE_DO_DB
REPLICATE_DO_TABLE
REPLICATE_IGNORE_DB
REPLICATE_IGNORE_TABLE
REPLICATE_REWRITE_DB
REPLICATE_WILD_DO_TABLE
REPLICATE_WILD_IGNORE_TABLE
REPLICATION
REQUIRE (R)
RESET
RESIGNAL (R)
RESOURCE; added in 8.0.3 (nonreserved)
RESPECT; added in 8.0.2 (nonreserved)
RESTART; added in 8.0.4 (nonreserved)
RESTORE
RESTRICT (R)
RESUME
RETAIN; added in 8.0.14 (nonreserved)
RETURN (R)
RETURNED_SQLSTATE
RETURNS
REUSE; added in 8.0.3 (nonreserved)
REVERSE
REVOKE (R)
RIGHT (R)
RLIKE (R)
ROLE; became nonreserved in 8.0.1
ROLLBACK
ROLLUP
ROTATE
ROUTINE
ROW (R); became reserved in 8.0.2
ROWS (R); became reserved in 8.0.2
ROW_COUNT
ROW_FORMAT
ROW_NUMBER (R); added in 8.0.2 (reserved)
RTREE

SAVEPOINT
SCHEDULE
SCHEMA (R)
SCHEMAS (R)
SCHEMA_NAME
SECOND
SECONDARY; added in 8.0.16 (nonreserved)
SECONDARY_ENGINE; added in 8.0.13 (nonreserved)
SECONDARY_LOAD; added in 8.0.13 (nonreserved)
SECONDARY_UNLOAD; added in 8.0.13 (nonreserved)
SECOND_MICROSECOND (R)
SECURITY
SELECT (R)
SENSITIVE (R)
SEPARATOR (R)
SERIAL
SERIALIZABLE
SERVER
SESSION
SET (R)
SHARE
SHOW (R)
SHUTDOWN
SIGNAL (R)
SIGNED
SIMPLE
SKIP; added in 8.0.1 (nonreserved)
SLAVE
SLOW
SMALLINT (R)
SNAPSHOT
SOCKET
SOME
SONAME
SOUNDS
SOURCE
SPATIAL (R)
SPECIFIC (R)
SQL (R)
SQLEXCEPTION (R)
SQLSTATE (R)
SQLWARNING (R)
SQL_AFTER_GTIDS
SQL_AFTER_MTS_GAPS
SQL_BEFORE_GTIDS
SQL_BIG_RESULT (R)
SQL_BUFFER_RESULT
SQL_CACHE; removed in 8.0.3
SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS (R)
SQL_NO_CACHE
SQL_SMALL_RESULT (R)
SQL_THREAD
SQL_TSI_DAY
SQL_TSI_HOUR
SQL_TSI_MINUTE
SQL_TSI_MONTH
SQL_TSI_QUARTER
SQL_TSI_SECOND
SQL_TSI_WEEK
SQL_TSI_YEAR
SRID; added in 8.0.3 (nonreserved)
SSL (R)
STACKED
START
STARTING (R)
STARTS
STATS_AUTO_RECALC
STATS_PERSISTENT
STATS_SAMPLE_PAGES
STATUS
STOP
STORAGE
STORED (R)
STRAIGHT_JOIN (R)
STRING
SUBCLASS_ORIGIN
SUBJECT
SUBPARTITION
SUBPARTITIONS
SUPER
SUSPEND
SWAPS
SWITCHES
SYSTEM (R); added in 8.0.3 (reserved)

TABLE (R)
TABLES
TABLESPACE
TABLE_CHECKSUM
TABLE_NAME
TEMPORARY
TEMPTABLE
TERMINATED (R)
TEXT
THAN
THEN (R)
THREAD_PRIORITY; added in 8.0.3 (nonreserved)
TIES; added in 8.0.2 (nonreserved)
TIME
TIMESTAMP
TIMESTAMPADD
TIMESTAMPDIFF
TINYBLOB (R)
TINYINT (R)
TINYTEXT (R)
TO (R)
TRAILING (R)
TRANSACTION
TRIGGER (R)
TRIGGERS
TRUE (R)
TRUNCATE
TYPE
TYPES

UNBOUNDED; added in 8.0.2 (nonreserved)
UNCOMMITTED
UNDEFINED
UNDO (R)
UNDOFILE
UNDO_BUFFER_SIZE
UNICODE
UNINSTALL
UNION (R)
UNIQUE (R)
UNKNOWN
UNLOCK (R)
UNSIGNED (R)
UNTIL
UPDATE (R)
UPGRADE
USAGE (R)
USE (R)
USER
USER_RESOURCES
USE_FRM
USING (R)
UTC_DATE (R)
UTC_TIME (R)
UTC_TIMESTAMP (R)

VALIDATION
VALUE
VALUES (R)
VARBINARY (R)
VARCHAR (R)
VARCHARACTER (R)
VARIABLES
VARYING (R)
VCPU; added in 8.0.3 (nonreserved)
VIEW
VIRTUAL (R)
VISIBLE

WAIT
WARNINGS
WEEK
WEIGHT_STRING
WHEN (R)
WHERE (R)
WHILE (R)
WINDOW (R); added in 8.0.2 (reserved)
WITH (R)
WITHOUT
WORK
WRAPPER
WRITE (R)

X509
XA
XID
XML
XOR (R)

YEAR
YEAR_MONTH (R)

ZEROFILL (R)

MySQL 8.0 New Keywords and Reserved Words

The following list shows the keywords and reserved words that are added in MySQL 8.0, compared to MySQL 5.7. Reserved keywords are marked with (R).

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | L | M | N | O | P | R | S | T | U | V | W

ACTIVE
ADMIN
ARRAY (R)

BUCKETS

CLONE
COMPONENT
CUME_DIST (R)

DEFINITION
DENSE_RANK (R)
DESCRIPTION

EMPTY (R)
ENFORCED
EXCEPT (R)
EXCLUDE

FIRST_VALUE (R)
FOLLOWING

GEOMCOLLECTION
GET_MASTER_PUBLIC_KEY
GROUPING (R)
GROUPS (R)

HISTOGRAM
HISTORY

INACTIVE
INVISIBLE

JSON_TABLE (R)

LAG (R)
LAST_VALUE (R)
LATERAL (R)
LEAD (R)
LOCKED

MASTER_PUBLIC_KEY_PATH
MEMBER (R)

NESTED
NETWORK_NAMESPACE
NOWAIT
NTH_VALUE (R)
NTILE (R)
NULLS

OF (R)
OJ
OLD
OPTIONAL
ORDINALITY
ORGANIZATION
OTHERS
OVER (R)

PATH
PERCENT_RANK (R)
PERSIST
PERSIST_ONLY
PRECEDING
PROCESS

RANK (R)
RECURSIVE (R)
REFERENCE
RESOURCE
RESPECT
RESTART
RETAIN
REUSE
ROLE
ROW_NUMBER (R)

SECONDARY
SECONDARY_ENGINE
SECONDARY_LOAD
SECONDARY_UNLOAD
SKIP
SRID
SYSTEM (R)

THREAD_PRIORITY
TIES

UNBOUNDED

VCPU
VISIBLE

WINDOW (R)

MySQL 8.0 Removed Keywords and Reserved Words

The following list shows the keywords and reserved words that are removed in MySQL 8.0, compared to MySQL 5.7. Reserved keywords are marked with (R).

ANALYSE
DES_KEY_FILE
PARSE_GCOL_EXPR
REDOFILE
SQL_CACHE

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