[RESOLVED] Sql Table Names and Spaces

jamesjohnson88

Currently my Sql table doesn't allow spaces. Is there a way to allow this? If so, are spaces in the name advisable or not?

If not, is there a way that I could replace an underscore with a space when the name of the table is being used?

Bjom

Yes it is possible to replace the underscore with a space before displaying the name, but where and why would you need to display the tablename?

It is not advisable to use spaces in tablenames or fieldnames. Both works however. In queries you need to enclose those names in backticks SELECT my nonadvisable tablename.my ugly fieldname...

jamesjohnson88

Basically, its for a league/ladder system.

So, when displaying a list of teams i'd like to appear as 'Lincoln Lakers' instead of 'Lincoln_Lakers'.

How would I achieve this?

NogDog

[man]str_replace/man would probably be the way to go.

jamesjohnson88

Cheers!

Bjom

That leads me to the induction, that you have several identically structured tables. For each team its own. And that in turn is not an ideal way of structuring the database - one table with an additional field identifying the team would be better. And then in turn there would be no need to display tablenames: The teamname is part of the data while a tablename in contrast is part of the structure. So storing data in tablenames is not the ideal solution.

To give you an example:

integrate your tables to something like this:
table: teamData
ID|someData|teamID
1|bla|1
2|bla|2
3|bla|2
4|bla|1
5|bla|5
6|bla|1

and add a second table like that for teams
table: teamName
teamID|teamName
1|Lincoln Lakers
2|Washington Fielders
5|Miami Beachers

That's just some thoughts...it's your database. 🙂

Bjom

laserlight

Bjom wrote:
In queries you need to enclose those names in backticks SELECT my nonadvisable tablename.my ugly fieldname...

Incidentally, note that backticks as identifier delimiters is MySQL specific. The standard identifier delimiter is the double quote, though some databases use brackets.