After 5.0.13, in stored procedures, you can use dynamic SQL:
delimiter //
CREATE PROCEDURE dynamic(IN tbl CHAR(64), IN col CHAR(64))
BEGIN
SET @s = CONCAT('SELECT ',col,' FROM ',tbl );
PREPARE stmt FROM @s;
EXECUTE stmt;
DEALLOCATE PREPARE stmt;
END
//
delimiter ;
Dynamic SQL does not work in functions or triggers. See the MySQL documentation for more uses.