Question

Here’s the file:

ALTER TABLE tablename
    ADD COLUMN `column_name` varchar(255) NULL;

I’m getting this error on line one:

ERROR 1064 (42000): YOu have an error in your SQL syntax; ... line 1

Why is this?

I’m certain the table name and column name are typed properly as there are other similar sql files that I am basing this one off of.

Answer 1

You’re entering mysql < MyFile.sql within the MySQL command prompt.

You need to run it from your shell. It’s a different way of running mysql itself, not a special mysql command.