How do I enable triggers in MySQL?
Mia Phillips
Updated on February 27, 2026
MySQL does not provide a way of enabling or disabling triggers natively. Dropping the trigger and recreating it later on is one solution, however, this can be complex and someone could forget to re-create a trigger after an operation has been performed.
Does MySQL support trigger?
MySQL supports triggers that are invoked in response to the INSERT , UPDATE or DELETE event. The SQL standard defines two types of triggers: row-level triggers and statement-level triggers.
What is trigger in MySQL?
A trigger in MySQL is a set of SQL statements that reside in a system catalog. It is a special type of stored procedure that is invoked automatically in response to an event. Each trigger is associated with a table, which is activated on any DML statement such as INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE.
Can triggers be enabled or disabled?
To enable a trigger, causes it to fire when any Transact-SQL statements on which it was originally programmed are run. Triggers are disabled by using DISABLE TRIGGER. DML triggers defined on tables can also be disabled or enabled by using ALTER TABLE.
What Cannot have a trigger MySQL?
MySQL triggers cannot: Use SHOW , LOAD DATA , LOAD TABLE , BACKUP DATABASE, RESTORE , FLUSH and RETURN statements. Use statements that commit or rollback implicitly or explicitly such as COMMIT , ROLLBACK , START TRANSACTION , LOCK/UNLOCK TABLES , ALTER , CREATE , DROP , RENAME.
How do I edit a trigger in MySQL?
To modify an existing trigger, double-click the node of the trigger to modify, or right-click this node and choose the Alter Trigger command from the context menu. Either of the commands opens the SQL Editor.
How can I tell if MySQL strict mode is enabled?
First, check whether the strict mode is enabled or not in mysql using:
- SHOW VARIABLES LIKE ‘sql_mode’;
- SET sql_mode = ”;
- SET sql_mode = ‘STRICT_TRANS_TABLES’;