# Migration with mysql reserved word

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/migration-with-mysql-reserved-word/87943>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [March 7, 2007, 12:32am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/migration-with-mysql-reserved-word/87943 "2007-03-07T00:32:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 12:32am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/migration-with-mysql-reserved-word/87943/1 "2007-03-07T00:32:52Z")

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I have a column name called ‘order’ in two of my db tables.  
I have just realized that it is causing some problems since ‘order’ is  
a reserved word in mysql.  
Unfortunately, trying to run a migration that includes…

rename\_column :images\_piles, :order, :sequence

…results in a mysql error (see below). Is there anyway way to run a  
successful migration that forces mysql to treat ‘order’ as a column  
name?

# == ChangeOrderToSequence: migrating

– rename\_column(:images\_piles, :order, :sequence)  
rake aborted!  
Mysql::Error: 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 ‘order sequence int(11)’ at line 1: ALTER TABLE images\_piles  
CHANGE order sequence int(11)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 1:28am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/migration-with-mysql-reserved-word/87943/2 "2007-03-07T01:28:56Z")

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On 7 Mrz., 00:31, “removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
wrote:

> I have a column name called ‘order’ in two of my db tables.

I don’t know how to do it in rails, but when you have access to a  
mysql  
command-line-client or phpmyadmin installed there is an easy way.

Just write the query like this:

ALTER TABLE images\_piles CHANGE `order` sequence int(11)

Simply put any keyword between backticks and it won’t be recognized  
as a keyword any more.

Once you changed the name of the column you can do the rest of the  
migration with rails.

HTH  
Adrian

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 1:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/migration-with-mysql-reserved-word/87943/3 "2007-03-07T13:31:17Z")

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i’ve hit this problem before when i had a column named ‘group’ in my  
table. i looked into the behavior because i noticed that rails,  
specifically ActiveRecord, does add backticks some of the time, but  
not all the time.

i even went in and forced it to use the reserved word by creating the  
table manually from the cl and even though that worked, when i  
attempted to add a new record, it blew up because AR wasn’t adding  
backticks on the insert.

in the end, it was just easier to change the column name.

Chris