# Part 2.4Databases and tables

SQL can execute a query against a database, retrieve information from a database, insert new information into a database, remove old information from a database, update current information, create new databases and more.

The next step is to create a database.

## Creating a database

The first thing that this tutorial is going to focus on is creation of databases.

A database is a collection of items, in the case of SQL, tables .

A database may consist of many tables. A table consists of records and fields .

The very first thing to do when working with MySQL after connecting successful is to create a database. This is done with the syntax as below:

SQL
CREATE DATABASE my_db


This will create a new database with the name my_db.

## Creating a table

Creating a table is not much different, except that fields need to be added when it is created.

A table is created in the same way with brackets following which contain the names of the fields:

SQL
CREATE TABLE People (
ID INT,
Name VARCHAR(255),
Phone VARCHAR(255)
)


In this example, there are four fields:

Field name Field type
ID INT
Name VARCHAR(255)
Phone VARCHAR(255)

It's common when creating a table to use multiple lines for a single query with each row on a new line and the closing bracket on a new line.

## Getting a list of all databases and tables

Getting a list of all of the databases and tables is done using the SHOW keyword:

SQL
SHOW DATABASES
SHOW TABLES


## Deleting (dropping) a database or table

Deleting a database or table is called dropping it. It uses the DROP keyword to do precisely this.

SQL
DROP TABLE mydb.mytable
DROP DATABASE mydb

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