How to fix ERROR 1109: Unknown table in MySQL

First, confirm you are connected to the correct database by running:

SELECT DATABASE();

If the output is NULL or shows the wrong database, switch to the correct one:

USE your_database_name;

Ensure the database name in your connection string or client configuration matches where your table actually exists.

Verify the table is present in your database:

SHOW TABLES LIKE 'your_table_name';

You can also list all tables in the database:

SHOW TABLES;

If the table doesn't appear, it either doesn't exist, was dropped, or is in a different database. Create it if necessary or adjust your query to point to the correct table.

Review your query carefully for spelling mistakes. MySQL table names are case-sensitive on Linux/Unix systems but case-insensitive on Windows/macOS. Common mistakes include:

-- WRONG: typo in table name
SELECT * FROM userss WHERE id = 1;

-- CORRECT: correct spelling
SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = 1;

If you're unsure of the exact table name, use SHOW TABLES to find the correct spelling.

If you assigned an alias to a table, you must use the alias when referencing columns from that table, not the original table name:

-- WRONG: using original table name after alias assignment
SELECT products.id FROM products AS p WHERE p.price > 100;

-- CORRECT: use the alias consistently
SELECT p.id FROM products AS p WHERE p.price > 100;

Also, when using HANDLER statements, open the table before trying to read from it:

HANDLER products OPEN;
HANDLER products READ FIRST;
HANDLER products CLOSE;

When working with multiple databases or in shared environments, explicitly specify the database name:

-- WRONG: ambiguous in shared environments
SELECT * FROM my_table;

-- CORRECT: fully qualified
SELECT * FROM database_name.my_table;

This prevents errors when the same table exists in multiple databases or when the connection defaults to the wrong database.

If you're getting "Unknown table 'COLUMN_STATISTICS' in information_schema" when using mysqldump 8+ to export from MySQL <8.0, add the --column-statistics=0 flag:

mysqldump --column-statistics=0 -u root -p database_name > backup.sql

The COLUMN_STATISTICS table was introduced in MySQL 8.0, so mysqldump 8+ tries to export it by default. This flag disables that behavior for compatibility with older MySQL versions.