MySQL enums empty value

Question

I am trying to understand how enums could be used in mysql. If I insert anything to enum field that is out of the enum type -- mysql inserts empty string (with value 0).

Answer 1

As per the documentation:

If you insert an invalid value into an ENUM (that is, a string not present in the list of permitted values), the empty string is inserted instead as a special error value. This string can be distinguished from a “normal” empty string by the fact that this string has the numeric value 0.

On a sidenote, I (and others) recommend you avoid enums, as they are not very efficient.

If you really need enums, consider using strict mode. Strict mode will at least throw an error when you try to insert an invalid value into an ENUM column. Otherwise only a warning is thrown and the value is simply set to an empty string ' ' (referenced internally as 0). Note: Errors can still be suppressed in strict mode if you use IGNORE.

Here is a link to the documentation on setting your MySQL server mode.

Happy coding!

Update: Nick's answer is one way to set your server in strict mode. TRADITIONAL mode is equivalent to STRICT_TRANS_TABLES, STRICT_ALL_TABLES, NO_ZERO_IN_DATE, NO_ZERO_DATE, ERROR_FOR_DIVISION_BY_ZERO, NO_AUTO_CREATE_USER, so keep in mind you will have additional data validation performed on other datatypes, such as DATE for example.