curious ?

[Anon]

any equivalent in Mysql

"SELECT * from tablename IF EXISTS tablename"

[[deleted]]

Why would want to use this, and what would it return if the table does not exist?

[Anon]

i want to do the select ONLY if the table exists

otherwise at present it returns an error

"table name blablabla NOT FOUND in database"

[[deleted]]

...and you are not capable of detecting that error message?

My point is more: why do a conditional select? do you not know which tables exist in your database? and what should the query return if the table does not exist? zero records? then how do you know wether the table did not exist, or there were simple zero records in the table?

Why don't you just run a query to see if the table exists? (show tables)

[Anon]

Well I dont want any error message to happen at all

for example

something like

DROP table IF EXISTS tablename;

no error is produced at all...whether table is present or not...

The same way I need a select statment too which does not produce a ERROR even if a table DOES NOT Exists..

[[deleted]]

sigh

So you want to run a query that just does not happen at all if the table does not exist.

and how is the rest of your PHP script supposed to know that the query did not take place?

Just run the query, and check for errors.
this will do

if (!$result = mysql_query('select....'))
{
// error occured
echo mysql_error().mysql_errno();
}
else
{
// query ok, process results
}

find out which errorcode belongs to 'table does not exist' and your done.

[Anon]

sorry I didnt mention it earlier

I dont need a php or a perl solution..I have umpteens and tons of them already

I was just CURIOUS whether I can find a more elegant Mysql solution only

[[deleted]]

Ah, well in that case; there is none :-)