

The size column uses the ENUM data type and has small, medium, large, and x-large sizes. Here, we are going to create a table named " shirts" that contains three columns: id, name, and size. Let us understand how ENUM data type works in MySQL with the following illustration. ENUM data type in My SQL includes the DEFAULT values as NULL or an empty string (''). The DEFAULT expression does not allow to insert function. Im curious to know what the community thinks the proper use-case for an ENUM type vs.

SET is used the same way as ENUM and declared the same way as ENUM.
#Correct use of enum in mysql code
It’s much safer than simply relying on code validation, as the ENUM function will reject any incorrect values at the database level. In other words, if the INSERT statement does not provide a value for this column, then the default value will be inserted. MySQL ENUM is a great way to ensure that data entered into your table conforms to a specific set of values. NULL: It is a synonym for DEFAULT NULL, and its index value is always NULL.ĭEFAULT: When a value is not specified in the column, the ENUM data type inserts the default value. If we do not want to allow the NULL values, it is required to use the NOT NULL property while specifying the ENUM column. Here's a demonstration: CREATE TABLE foo ( f ENUM ('abc', 'xyz') ) CREATE TABLE bar AS SELECT f AS b FROM foo SHOW CREATE TABLE bar Outputs: CREATE TABLE bar ( b enum ('abc','xyz') default NULL ) Finally, I suggest that if your ENUM has many values in it (which I'm guessing is true since you're looking for a solution to avoid typing them. NOT NULL: By default, the ENUM data type is NULL.

MySQL allows us to define the ENUM data type with the following attributes: Here, we have to make sure that the enumeration values should always keep inside the quoted string literal. In the above syntax, we have defined only three ENUM values, but it can be increased according to our needs.
