MySQL check if a table exists without throwing an exception

If you're using MySQL 5.0 and later, you could try:

SELECT COUNT(*)
FROM information_schema.tables 
WHERE table_schema = '[database name]' 
AND table_name = '[table name]';

Any results indicate the table exists.

From: http://www.electrictoolbox.com/check-if-mysql-table-exists/

This is posted simply if anyone comes looking for this question. Even though its been answered a bit. Some of the replies make it more complex than it needed to be.

For mysql* I used :

if (mysqli_num_rows(
    mysqli_query(
                    $con,"SHOW TABLES LIKE '" . $table . "'")
                ) > 0
        or die ("No table set")
    ){

In PDO I used:

if ($con->query(
                   "SHOW TABLES LIKE '" . $table . "'"
               )->rowCount() > 0
        or die("No table set")
   ){

With this I just push the else condition into or. And for my needs I only simply need die. Though you can set or to other things. Some might prefer the if/ else if/else. Which is then to remove or and then supply if/else if/else.

Using mysqli I've created following function. Assuming you have an mysqli instance called $con.

function table_exist($con, $table){
    $table = $con->real_escape_string($table);
    $sql = "show tables like '".$table."'";
    $res = $con->query($sql);
    return ($res->num_rows > 0);
}

Hope it helps.

Warning: as sugested by @jcaron this function could be vulnerable to sqlinjection attacs, so make sure your $table var is clean or even better use parameterised queries.

Querying the information_schema database using prepared statement looks like the most reliable and secure solution.

$sql = "SELECT 1 FROM information_schema.tables 
        WHERE table_schema = database() AND table_name = ?";
$stmt =  $pdo->prepare($sql);
$stmt->execute([$tableName]);
$exists = (bool)$stmt->fetchColumn();