To check if field exists and then to return the result set, you can use the below syntax −
show columns from yourTableName where field='yourColumnName';
Let us first create a table −
mysql> create table DemoTable ( UserId int NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY, UserFirstName varchar(20), UserLastName varchar(20), UserAge int, UserAddress varchar(200), UserCountryName varchar(20) ); Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.67 sec)
Here is the query to check if field exists and then return the result set −
mysql> show columns from DemoTable where field='UserCountryName';
This will produce the following output −
+-----------------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+ | Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra | +-----------------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+ | UserCountryName | varchar(20) | YES | | NULL | | +-----------------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+ 1 row in set (0.01 sec)
Here is the case when the column does not exist −
mysql>show columns from DemoTable where field='Marks';
This will produce the following output −
Empty set (0.00 sec)