CREATE TABLE AS — define a new table from the results of a query
CREATE [ [ GLOBAL | LOCAL ] { TEMPORARY | TEMP } ] TABLE table_name
[ (column_name [, ...] ) ] [ [ WITH | WITHOUT ] OIDS ]
AS query
CREATE TABLE AS creates a table and fills it
with data computed by a SELECT command or an
EXECUTE that runs a prepared
SELECT command. The table columns have the
names and data types associated with the output columns of the
SELECT (except that you can override the column
names by giving an explicit list of new column names).
CREATE TABLE AS bears some resemblance to
creating a view, but it is really quite different: it creates a new
table and evaluates the query just once to fill the new table
initially. The new table will not track subsequent changes to the
source tables of the query. In contrast, a view re-evaluates its
defining SELECT statement whenever it is
queried.
GLOBAL or LOCALIgnored for compatibility. Refer to CREATE TABLE for details.
TEMPORARY or TEMPIf specified, the table is created as a temporary table. Refer to CREATE TABLE for details.
table_nameThe name (optionally schema-qualified) of the table to be created.
column_name The name of a column in the new table. If column names are not
provided, they are taken from the output column names of the
query. If the table is created from an
EXECUTE command, a column name list cannot be
specified.
WITH OIDSWITHOUT OIDS
This optional clause specifies whether the table created by
CREATE TABLE AS should include OIDs. If
neither form of this clause is specified, the value of the
default_with_oids configuration parameter is
used.
query A query statement (that is, a SELECT command
or an EXECUTE command that runs a prepared
SELECT command). Refer to SELECT or EXECUTE,
respectively, for a description of the allowed syntax.
This command is functionally similar to SELECT INTO, but it is
preferred since it is less likely to be confused with other uses of
the SELECT INTO syntax. Furthermore, CREATE
TABLE AS offers a superset of the functionality offered
by SELECT INTO.
Prior to PostgreSQL 8.0, CREATE
TABLE AS always included OIDs in the table it
created. As of PostgreSQL 8.0,
the CREATE TABLE AS command allows the user to
explicitly specify whether OIDs should be included. If the
presence of OIDs is not explicitly specified,
the default_with_oids configuration variable is
used. As of PostgreSQL 8.1,
this variable is false by default, so the default behavior is not
identical to pre-8.0 releases. Applications that
require OIDs in the table created by CREATE TABLE
AS should explicitly specify WITH OIDS
to ensure proper behavior.
Create a new table films_recent consisting of only
recent entries from the table films:
CREATE TABLE films_recent AS SELECT * FROM films WHERE date_prod >= '2002-01-01';
CREATE TABLE AS conforms to the SQL
standard, with the following exceptions:
The standard requires parentheses around the subquery clause; in PostgreSQL, these parentheses are optional.
The standard defines an ON COMMIT clause;
this is not currently implemented by PostgreSQL.
The standard defines a WITH [ NO ] DATA clause;
this is not currently implemented by PostgreSQL.
The behavior provided by PostgreSQL is equivalent
to the standard's WITH DATA case.
WITH/WITHOUT OIDS is a PostgreSQL
extension.
PostgreSQL handles temporary tables in a way rather different from the standard; see CREATE TABLE for details.