db.prepare(string) function errors when trying to create a table with parameters

[AceKiron]

Even a simple db.prepare('CREATE TABLE test (?)'); gives me an error on better-sqlite3 ^11.3.0.

        return this[cppdb].prepare(sql, this, false);
                           ^
SqliteError: near "?": syntax error
    at Database.prepare (C:\Users\aceki\Desktop\nitrite\node_modules\better-sqlite3\lib\methods\wrappers.js:5:21)
    at Object.createIfNotExists (C:\Users\aceki\Desktop\nitrite\migrate-table-sqlite.js:47:12)
    at module.exports (C:\Users\aceki\Desktop\nitrite\test\app\database\0_create_users_table.up.js:2:11)
    at C:\Users\aceki\Desktop\nitrite\index.js:134:28
    at FSReqCallback.oncomplete (node:fs:188:23) {
  code: 'SQLITE_ERROR'
}

Node.js v22.3.0

[neoxpert]

This is not a better-sqlite3 issue. The statement is just not correct. You cannot use a binding parameter to "replace" the column definition.

[AceKiron]

You cannot use a binding parameter to "replace" the column definition.

I know I'm late and that this issue has been closed now, but why can I not do that though? Why would that not work, but db.prepare('INSERT INTO people VALUES (?, ?, ?)') would? (I'm not 100% sure if that works, I just copied that from the docs).

[neoxpert]

It would not work for replacing a complete column definition, because binding parameters, aka dynamic parameters or dynamic variables, are used to replace the actual values within a statement but not for changing / defining structure.

While your insert statement could work using the binding parameters, it may fail if those parameters are not in the exact order of column definitions of the table. I strongly suggest to write verbose SQL statements and include column names at all times, e.g. db.prepare('INSERT INTO people (<name of column 1>, <name of column 2>, <name of column 3>) VALUES (?, ?, ?)').

While there might be some databases out there, that also allow for doing such things, like binding table or column names to a paramter, SQlite3 (the actual database used by this lib) does not.