What does adding IF NOT EXISTS to CREATE DATABASE accomplish?

Prevents an error if a database with that name already exists

Automatically drops any existing database with that name

Creates the database only inside a transaction

What must you do before running queries against a specific database's tables?

Select it first with the USE statement

Run CREATE DATABASE again to activate it

Nothing, MySQL picks a database automatically

What happens when you run DROP DATABASE on an existing database?

The database and all of its tables are permanently deleted

Only the database name is removed, tables remain accessible

The database is emptied but kept for future use

MySQL Create Database

A MySQL database is a named container that holds all the tables, views, and other objects belonging to one application, so creating it correctly is the first real step in building anything with MySQL.

What CREATE DATABASE Does

The CREATE DATABASE statement asks the MySQL server to allocate a new schema on disk with its own namespace for tables, views, stored procedures, and triggers. Once created, a database is selected with USE before you can create tables inside it, or you can qualify every statement with the database name (for example, shop.customers).

MySQL treats 'database' and 'schema' as synonyms, so CREATE DATABASE and CREATE SCHEMA do exactly the same thing. Database names can contain letters, digits, underscores, and dollar signs, and are case-sensitive on Linux servers but not on Windows, so it is good practice to always type them consistently.

Basic Syntax

Create a simple database

CREATE DATABASE company;

Running this once succeeds. Running it a second time raises an error because the database already exists. To avoid that error in scripts that may run more than once, add the IF NOT EXISTS clause.

Create a database safely

CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS company;

Choosing Character Set and Collation

Every database has a default character set (how characters are encoded) and collation (how strings are compared and sorted). New tables inherit these defaults unless you override them, so it pays to set them explicitly when the database is created rather than relying on the server default.

Create a database with UTF-8 settings

CREATE DATABASE company
  CHARACTER SET utf8mb4
  COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

utf8mb4 stores full Unicode, including emoji, unlike the older utf8 alias which only covers 3-byte characters.
A _ci suffix on a collation means case-insensitive comparisons; _cs means case-sensitive; _bin compares raw bytes.
You can inspect available character sets with SHOW CHARACTER SET and available collations with SHOW COLLATION.

Selecting and Inspecting Databases

After creating a database you must switch into it before creating tables. The USE statement changes the active database for the current session, and SHOW DATABASES lists every database the connected user is permitted to see.

Switch into a database

USE company;

Note: USE is a client-side convenience, not a query against a table -- it does not require a trailing result set and simply changes session state, so it is safe to run at the top of every script.

Note: Dropping a database with DROP DATABASE company; permanently deletes every table and row inside it. There is no built-in undo, so always confirm the target name and take a backup (mysqldump) before dropping anything outside of a throwaway test database.

Naming and Maintenance Tips

Practice	Why it matters
Use lowercase, underscore-separated names	Avoids cross-platform case-sensitivity surprises
Set utf8mb4 explicitly	Prevents mojibake and truncated emoji later
Prefix test databases clearly (e.g. test_)	Makes accidental drops easier to catch
Script schema creation with IF NOT EXISTS	Lets setup scripts be re-run safely

Exercise: MySQL Create Database

What is the correct statement to create a new database named shop?

Keep Going

MySQL Interview QuestionsPractice real questions asked for MySQL Database Administrator SalarySee what Database Administrator roles pay in the market Auto Apply for JobsApply to open roles related to MySQL and tweak your resume