“Unknown column in 'field list'”, but column does exist

Question

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `transactions`;
CREATE TABLE `transactions` (
  `id` int(11) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `purchase_date` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
  PRIMAR         


        

Answer 1

This can also happen if you paste a column name when building the table structure. Same error - but the unprintable/invisible characters are in the table structure, not the query.