### 9.2.3 Identifier Case Sensitivity

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 In MySQL, databases correspond to directories within the data directory. Each table within a database corresponds to at least one file within the database directory (and possibly more, depending on the storage engine). Triggers also correspond to files. Consequently, the case sensitivity of the underlying operating system plays a part in the case sensitivity of database, table, and trigger names. This means such names are not case-sensitive in Windows, but are case-sensitive in most varieties of Unix. One notable exception is macOS, which is Unix-based but uses a default file system type (HFS+) that is not case-sensitive. However, macOS also supports UFS volumes, which are case-sensitive just as on any Unix. See [Section 1.7.1, “MySQL Extensions to Standard SQL”](extensions-to-ansi.html). The [`lower_case_table_names`](server-system-variables.html#sysvar_lower_case_table_names) system variable also affects how the server handles identifier case sensitivity, as described later in this section.

Note

 Although database, table, and trigger names are not case-sensitive on some platforms, you should not refer to one of these using different cases within the same statement. The following statement would not work because it refers to a table both as `my_table` and as `MY_TABLE`:

```
mysql> SELECT * FROM my_table WHERE MY_TABLE.col=1;
```

 Partition, subpartition, column, index, stored routine, event, and resource group names are not case-sensitive on any platform, nor are column aliases.

 However, names of logfile groups are case-sensitive. This differs from standard SQL.

 By default, table aliases are case-sensitive on Unix, but not so on Windows or macOS. The following statement would not work on Unix, because it refers to the alias both as `a` and as `A`:

```
mysql> SELECT col_name FROM tbl_name AS a
       WHERE a.col_name = 1 OR A.col_name = 2;
```

 However, this same statement is permitted on Windows. To avoid problems caused by such differences, it is best to adopt a consistent convention, such as always creating and referring to databases and tables using lowercase names. This convention is recommended for maximum portability and ease of use.

 How table and database names are stored on disk and used in MySQL is affected by the [`lower_case_table_names`](server-system-variables.html#sysvar_lower_case_table_names) system variable. [`lower_case_table_names`](server-system-variables.html#sysvar_lower_case_table_names) can take the values shown in the following table. This variable does *not* affect case sensitivity of trigger identifiers. On Unix, the default value of [`lower_case_table_names`](server-system-variables.html#sysvar_lower_case_table_names) is 0. On Windows, the default value is 1. On macOS, the default value is 2.

[`lower_case_table_names`](server-system-variables.html#sysvar_lower_case_table_names) can only be configured when initializing the server. Changing the [`lower_case_table_names`](server-system-variables.html#sysvar_lower_case_table_names) setting after the server is initialized is prohibited.

|Value|                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Meaning                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
|-----| |
| `0` |Table and database names are stored on disk using the lettercase specified in the [`CREATE TABLE`](create-table.html) or [`CREATE DATABASE`](create-database.html) statement. Name comparisons are case-sensitive. You should *not* set this variable to 0 if you are running MySQL on a system that has case-insensitive file names (such as Windows or macOS). If you force this variable to 0 with [`--lower-case-table-names=0`](server-system-variables.html#sysvar_lower_case_table_names) on a case-insensitive file system and access `MyISAM` tablenames using different lettercases, index corruption may result.|
| `1` |                                                                                                                                                                                                Table names are stored in lowercase on disk and name comparisons are not case-sensitive. MySQL converts all table names to lowercase on storage and lookup. This behavior also applies to database names and table aliases.                                                                                                                                                                                                |
| `2` |                                                                                           Table and database names are stored on disk using the lettercase specified in the [`CREATE TABLE`](create-table.html) or [`CREATE DATABASE`](create-database.html) statement, but MySQL converts them to lowercase on lookup. Name comparisons are not case-sensitive. This works *only* on file systems that are not case-sensitive! `InnoDB` table names and view names are stored in lowercase, as for `lower_case_table_names=1`.                                                                                           |

 If you are using MySQL on only one platform, you do not normally have to use a [`lower_case_table_names`](server-system-variables.html#sysvar_lower_case_table_names) setting other than the default. However, you may encounter difficulties if you want to transfer tables between platforms that differ in file system case sensitivity. For example, on Unix, you can have two different tables named `my_table` and `MY_TABLE`, but on Windows these two names are considered identical. To avoid data transfer problems arising from lettercase of database or table names, you have two options:

* Use `lower_case_table_names=1` on all systems. The main disadvantage with this is that when you use [`SHOW TABLES`](show-tables.html) or [`SHOW DATABASES`](show-databases.html), you do not see the names in their original lettercase.

* Use `lower_case_table_names=0` on Unix and `lower_case_table_names=2` on Windows. This preserves the lettercase of database and table names. The disadvantage of this is that you must ensure that your statements always refer to your database and table names with the correct lettercase on Windows. If you transfer your statements to Unix, where lettercase is significant, they do not work if the lettercase is incorrect.

  **Exception**: If you are using `InnoDB` tables and you are trying to avoid these data transfer problems, you should use [`lower_case_table_names=1`](server-system-variables.html#sysvar_lower_case_table_names) on all platforms to force names to be converted to lowercase.

 Object names may be considered duplicates if their uppercase forms are equal according to a binary collation. That is true for names of cursors, conditions, procedures, functions, savepoints, stored routine parameters, stored program local variables, and plugins. It is not true for names of columns, constraints, databases, partitions, statements prepared with [`PREPARE`](prepare.html), tables, triggers, users, and user-defined variables.

 File system case sensitivity can affect searches in string columns of `INFORMATION_SCHEMA` tables. For more information, see [Section 10.8.7, “Using Collation in INFORMATION\_SCHEMA Searches”](charset-collation-information-schema.html).

