13.1.3. CREATE DATABASE Syntax
CREATE {DATABASE | SCHEMA} [IF NOT EXISTS] db_name
[create_specification [, create_specification] ...]
create_specification:
[DEFAULT] CHARACTER SET charset_name
| [DEFAULT] COLLATE collation_name
CREATE DATABASE creates a database with the
given name. To use CREATE DATABASE, you need
the CREATE privilege on the database.
CREATE SCHEMA is a synonym for
CREATE DATABASE.
Rules for allowable database names are given in
Section 9.2, “Database, Table, Index, Column, and Alias Names”. An error occurs if the database
exists and you did not specify IF NOT EXISTS.
create_specification options specify
database characteristics. Database characteristics are stored in
the db.opt file in the database directory.
The CHARACTER SET clause specifies the
default database character set. The COLLATE
clause specifies the default database collation.
Chapter 10, Character Set Support, discusses character set and collation
names.
Databases in MySQL are implemented as directories containing
files that correspond to tables in the database. Because there
are no tables in a database when it is initially created, the
CREATE DATABASE statement creates only a
directory under the MySQL data directory and the
db.opt file.
If you manually create a directory under the data directory (for
example, with mkdir), the server considers it
a database directory and it shows up in the output of
SHOW DATABASES.
You can also use the mysqladmin program to
create databases. See Section 8.7, “mysqladmin — Client for Administering a MySQL Server”.
