title: What is the difference between SERIAL and AUTO_INCREMENT in mysql
body: <p>I have come across two ways to increment the ids in mysql automatically.</p>
  
  <p>One is <strong>SERIAL</strong> and other is <strong>AUTOINCREMENT</strong>.</p>
  
  <p>So Suppose i want to create a table myfriends.
  I can create it in two ways like:</p>
  
  <p>1) </p>
  
  <pre><code>mysql&gt; create table myfriends(id int primary key auto_increment,frnd_name varchar(50) not null);
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>2)</p>
  
  <pre><code>mysql&gt; create table myfriends(id serial primary key,frnd_name varchar(50) not null);
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What is difference between the two ?</p>
  
  <p>OR</p>
  
  <p>Do anyone way has advantages over other ?</p>
  
  <p>Please Help.</p>