syntax error that i do not understand

[konsu]

hello, would the experts please help.

this script works with no errors:

-------------------------------
drop table if exists degree;
create table degree (id int unsigned not null auto_increment, primary key
(id)) type=MyISAM;

drop table if exists t;
create table t (id int unsigned not null, foreign key (id) references
degree(id)) type=MyISAM;
-------------------------------

but this one gives the error below:
-------------------------------
drop table if exists degrees;
create table degrees (id int unsigned not null auto_increment, primary key
(id)) type=MyISAM;

drop table if exists t;
create table t (id int unsigned not null, foreign key (id) references
degrees(id)) type=MyISAM;
-------------------------------

the output:

ERROR 1064 (42000): You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual
that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use
near 'degrees(id)) type=MyISAM' at line 1

i do not see what is so special about the name 'degrees' versus 'degree'. i
am confused. note that changing the erroneous line to the one below works.

create table t (id int unsigned not null, foreign key (id) references
degrees) type=MyISAM;

thanks for any help
konstantin

[Bill Karwin]

> drop table if exists t;

create table t (id int unsigned not null, foreign key (id) references
degrees(id)) type=MyISAM;

I don't know exactly what the rule it's violating, but when I tried it
in my test database I discovered that it can be made to work in two cases:

create table t (id int unsigned not null, foreign key (id) references
degrees (id));

Notice the space.

create table t (id int unsigned not null, foreign key (id) references
`degrees`(id));

Regards,
Bill K.

[konsu]

thank you for your response. i just discovered that degrees() is a built in
function. it looks like putting a space in between the table name and the
key name works just by chance. because i think a space like that is allowed
in function invocations. so the best way that i see to go around this is to
use quotes.

konstantin
"Bill Karwin" <bi**@karwin.com> wrote in message
news:co*********@enews3.newsguy.com...

drop table if exists t;
create table t (id int unsigned not null, foreign key (id) references
degrees(id)) type=MyISAM;

I don't know exactly what the rule it's violating, but when I tried it in
my test database I discovered that it can be made to work in two cases:

create table t (id int unsigned not null, foreign key (id) references
degrees (id));

Notice the space.

create table t (id int unsigned not null, foreign key (id) references
`degrees`(id));

Regards,
Bill K.