How to Create a Database in MySQL
Last updated July 25, 2026 · By the SaturnSQL team
Use CREATE DATABASE with an explicit utf8mb4 character set so emoji and all of Unicode store correctly. Add IF NOT EXISTS to make setup scripts rerunnable.
CREATE DATABASE shop
CHARACTER SET utf8mb4
COLLATE utf8mb4_0900_ai_ci;Idempotent version
CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS shop CHARACTER SET utf8mb4;MySQL 8.0 defaults to utf8mb4 anyway, but 5.7 defaults to latin1, so always state it. The utf8mb4_0900_ai_ci collation is 8.0-only; on 5.7 use utf8mb4_unicode_ci.
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