As of MySQL 4.1, the list of table types is available directly through the SHOW TABLE TYPES statement:
mysql> SHOW TABLE TYPES; +--------+---------+-----------------------------------------------------------+ | Type | Support | Comment | +--------+---------+-----------------------------------------------------------+ | MyISAM | DEFAULT | Default type from 3.23 with great performance | | HEAP | YES | Hash based, stored in memory, useful for temporary tables | | MERGE | YES | Collection of identical MyISAM tables | | ISAM | YES | Obsolete table type; Is replaced by MyISAM | | InnoDB | YES | Supports transactions, row-level locking and foreign keys | | BDB | YES | Supports transactions and page-level locking | +--------+---------+-----------------------------------------------------------+