How to Retrieve the List of Databases Supported by PDO Using the PDO::getAvailableDrivers Function

gitbox 2025-09-12

<?php
/**

Article starts here
Title: How to Retrieve the List of Databases Supported by PDO Using the PDO::getAvailableDrivers Function
PHP's PDO (PHP Data Objects) extension provides a unified interface for accessing different types of databases. For developers, it's important to know which database types are supported by the current PHP environment so that database-related code can be written with compatibility in mind.
PDO offers a static method PDO::getAvailableDrivers() that allows you to directly retrieve the list of available PDO drivers in the current PHP environment. This function returns an array containing the driver names, where each driver corresponds to a specific database type, such as MySQL, SQLite, PostgreSQL, etc.
Example usage:
*/

$drivers = PDO::getAvailableDrivers();
echo "

"</span></span><span>;<br>
</span><span><span class="function_ invoke__">print_r</span></span><span>(</span><span><span>$drivers</span></span><span>);<br>
</span><span><span>echo</span></span><span> </span><span><span>"

/**

The output example may look like:
Array
(
```
[0] => mysql
```
```
[1] => sqlite
```
```
[2] => pgsql
```
)
The output above shows that the current PHP environment supports PDO drivers for MySQL, SQLite, and PostgreSQL databases.
This is useful for dynamically determining available database types within your application. For example, during the installation or configuration phase of your app, you can select the default database type based on the returned driver list, avoiding unsupported databases.
Summary:
- PDO::getAvailableDrivers() is a static method used to retrieve the list of PDO drivers supported by PHP.
- The return value is an array, with each element representing a supported database type.
- You can dynamically check the available databases in your code to improve the application's compatibility.
  */
  ?>

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Related Tags:
PDO

PDO::getAvailableDrivers