Error 1166 is raised when a column identifier is syntactically invalid, reserved, duplicated, or too long in a CREATE, ALTER, or SELECT statement.
MySQL Error 1166: ER_WRONG_COLUMN_NAME signals that a column name contains illegal characters, is a reserved keyword, or exceeds 64 characters. Quote the identifier with backticks or rename it to a valid, unique name to fix the issue.
Incorrect column name '%s'
MySQL throws Error 1166 with the message "Incorrect column name '%s'" when a column identifier violates naming rules in CREATE, ALTER, or SELECT statements. The placeholder %s shows the offending text.
The parser stops at the invalid token, marking the statement as a syntax error.
Reserved keywords, illegal characters, duplicate aliases, or an empty string can all trigger the condition.
Invalid characters such as spaces, hyphens, or punctuation inside an identifier immediately raise Error 1166. MySQL allows only letters, digits, underscore, and dollar-sign unless quoted.
Using a reserved keyword like "order" as a column name without backticks also produces the error.
MySQL 8.0 adds more reserved words, so upgrades may expose hidden issues.
Identifiers longer than 64 characters or an empty quoted name (``) will fail. Duplicate column aliases in a SELECT list behave similarly.
Check the column flagged in the error message. Rename it or wrap it in backticks to enforce quoting.
If the name is a reserved keyword, either quote it or pick a clearer alternative.
When changing live tables, wrap ALTER statements in a transaction to avoid downtime.
CSV-to-SQL scripts often carry spaces from headers. Replace spaces with underscores before running CREATE TABLE.
Some ORMs prepend long hashes that exceed 64 characters. Shorten the prefix or configure the ORM to truncate identifiers.
Adopt lowercase snake_case and avoid reserved words.
Validate DDL in staging before production deployment.
Galaxy’s SQL editor flags invalid identifiers in real time, preventing Error 1166 before the query runs.
Error 1064 (Syntax error) appears for other malformed statements. Error 1054 (Unknown column) surfaces when a valid identifier is not found. Verify spelling, quoting, and schema to resolve them.
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Yes, backticks allow any string as a column name, but overusing them reduces portability to other systems.
Yes, using an invalid alias in a SELECT list or ORDER BY clause can raise the same error.
Possibly, because 8.0 adds new reserved keywords. Test migration scripts in staging to catch them.
Galaxy provides instant linting of identifiers and highlights reserved keywords, stopping Error 1166 before execution.
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