'IF NOT EXISTS' parameter can be used to check if a table exists before you actually create it : Create Table : Table MySQL TUTORIALS

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'IF NOT EXISTS' parameter can be used to check if a table exists before you actually create it

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS tablename (columnname data type);


mysql>
mysql>
mysql> CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS employee (id int);
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.03 sec)

mysql>
mysql> desc employee;
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type    | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| id    | int(11) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
1 row in set (0.01 sec)

mysql>
mysql> drop table employee;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.02 sec)

mysql>
mysql>