MySQL Forums :: Information Schema :: 'condition' is not allowed as column name

Yes, quote you identifiers.

The normal quotechar is the backtick (`):

create table rules (`condition` varchar(255))

this is specific for mysql. ANSI SQL also defines this feature, but with the double quote (") as delimiter:

create table rules ("condition" varchar(255))

because the double quote is normally a string delimiter in mysql, you have to tell mysql specifically to use the ANSI_QUOTES SQL mode, or just the ANSI mode.

set sql_mode := 'ANSI'

you can also specify tha ansi mode at server startup.

for server modes, see

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/ansi-mode.html
and
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/sql-mode.html
and
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/server-sql-mode.html

to find out what suits you best.

for quoting and reserved words, see:

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/legal-names.html
and
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/reserved-words.html