maybe_create_table() WordPress Function

function maybe_create_table( $table_name, $create_ddl ) {
	global $wpdb;

	$query = $wpdb->prepare( 'SHOW TABLES LIKE %s', $wpdb->esc_like( $table_name ) );

	if ( $wpdb->get_var( $query ) === $table_name ) {
		return true;
	}

	// Didn't find it, so try to create it.
	$wpdb->query( $create_ddl );

	// We cannot directly tell that whether this succeeded!
	if ( $wpdb->get_var( $query ) === $table_name ) {
		return true;
	}

	return false;
}
Uses	Description
wp-includes/wp-db.php:wpdb::esc_like()	First half of escaping for `LIKE` special characters `%` and `_` before preparing for SQL.
wp-includes/wp-db.php:wpdb::get_col()	Retrieves one column from the database.
wp-includes/wp-db.php:wpdb::query()	Performs a database query, using current database connection.
wp-includes/wp-db.php:wpdb::get_var()	Retrieves one variable from the database.
wp-includes/wp-db.php:wpdb::prepare()	Prepares a SQL query for safe execution.