Is SQL syntax case sensitive?

sql case-sensitive
Steve Tranby picture Steve Tranby · Sep 30, 2008 · Viewed 223.1k times · Source

Is SQL case sensitive. I've used MySQL and SQL Server which both seem to be case in-sensitive. Is this always the case? Does the standard define case-sensitivity?

Answer

Stefan Rusek picture Stefan Rusek · Sep 30, 2008

The SQL Keywords are case-insensitive (SELECT, FROM, WHERE, etc), but are often written in all caps. However in some setups table and column names are case-sensitive. MySQL has a configuration option to enable/disable it. Usually case-sensitive table and column names are the default on Linux MySQL and case-insensitive used to be the default on Windows, but now the installer asked about this during setup. For MSSQL it is a function of the database's collation setting.

Here is the MySQL page about name case-sensitivity

Here is the article in MSDN about collations for MSSQL

Related questions

Case insensitive searching in Oracle

The default behaviour of LIKE and the other comparison operators, = etc is case-sensitive. Is it possible make them case-insensitive?

Read More
How can I make SQL case sensitive string comparison on MySQL?

I have a function that returns five characters with mixed case. If I do a query on this string it will return the value regardless of case. How can I make MySQL string queries case sensitive?

Read More
SQL Server check case-sensitivity?

How can I check to see if a database in SQL Server is case-sensitive? I have previously been running the query: SELECT CASE WHEN 'A' = 'a' THEN 'NOT CASE SENSITIVE' ELSE 'CASE SENSITIVE' END But I am looking for other …

Read More