How can I check if mysql table column even exists?

Question

How can I check if mysql table field even exists ?

The column name is \'price\' and I need to see if it exists.

Haven\'t understood really how the \'EXISTS\'

Answer 1

In PHP:

$fields = mysql_list_fields('database_name', 'table_name');
$columns = mysql_num_fields($fields);
for ($i = 0; $i < $columns; $i++) {$field_array[] = mysql_field_name($fields, $i);}

if (!in_array('price', $field_array))
{
$result = mysql_query('ALTER TABLE table_name ADD price VARCHAR(10)');
}

This should also help you:

IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE TABLE_NAME = ‘TEST’ AND COLUMN_NAME = ‘TEST_DATE’)
BEGIN
  ALTER TABLE TEST ADD TEST_DATE DATETIME
END

Or you can do:

Show columns from table like 'string';

There has been a similar question posed on SO here before.