error in mysql command - mysql

Question

I'm following a book to learn cakephp. I have this table to create in mysql but I keep having an error
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS 'categories'(
'id' int(10) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
'parent_id' int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
'name' varchar(50) character NOT NULL,
'description' varchar(200) character NOT NULL,
'image' varchar(255) character NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY ('id'),
KEY 'cat_parent_id' ('parent_id'),
KEY 'cat_name' ('name')
);
INSERT INTO 'categories' ('id', 'parent_id', 'name', 'description', 'image') VALUES
(17, 0, 'Jazz', 'Everything from 1890s', ''),
(12, 0, 'Classical', 'From Medieval to Contemporary', ''),
(13, 17, 'Dizzy Gillepsie', 'The Trumpeter Master', ''),
(14, 12, 'Mozart', 'The Old Favourite', '');
The error at line 1 ???:
#1064 - You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ''categories'(
'id' int(10) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
'parent_id' int(11) NOT NU' at line 1

Answer 1

Single-quotes are for string literals, not identifiers (column or table names). Remove them. Also, I am not sure what character is supposed to do, unless you were intending to specify a character set (CHARACTER SET <charset_name>):
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS categories(
id int(10) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
parent_id int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
name varchar(50) NOT NULL,
description varchar(200) NOT NULL,
image varchar(255) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (id),
KEY cat_parent_id (parent_id),
KEY cat_name (name)
);
If you need to quote an identifier in MySQL, use the backtick `. This can be helpful in easily spotting which are table/column names, and which are keywords. Some developers also insist on using them everywhere as a style rule:
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `categories`(
`id` int(10) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`parent_id` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
`name` varchar(50) NOT NULL,
`description` varchar(200) NOT NULL,
`image` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`),
KEY `cat_parent_id` (`parent_id`),
KEY `cat_name` (`name`)
);
Quoting is also a must when using a reserved word as a column name (NOT RECOMMENDED):
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS foobar(
id int(10) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`table` int(11) NOT NULL,
`select` int(11) NOT NULL
);