CREATE TABLE AS creates a table and fills it
with data computed by a 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.
Parameters
[LOCAL] TEMPORARY or [LOCAL] TEMP
If specified, the table is created as a temporary table.
Refer to CREATE TABLE for details.
table_name
The name (optionally schema-qualified) of the table to be created.
column_name
The name of a column in the new table. Multiple column names can
be specified using a comma-delimited list of column names. If
column names are not provided, they are taken from the output
column names of the query.
query
A query statement (that is, a SELECT
command). Refer to
SELECT
for a description of the allowed syntax.
Diagnostics
Refer to CREATE TABLE and
SELECT
for a summary of possible output messages.
Notes
This command is functionally equivalent to SELECT INTO, but it is preferred since it is less
likely to be confused with other uses of the SELECT
... INTO syntax.
Compatibility
This command is modeled after an Oracle
feature. There is no command with equivalent functionality in
SQL92 or SQL99. However, a combination of CREATE
TABLE and INSERT ... SELECT can
accomplish the same thing with little more effort.
History
The CREATE TABLE AS command has been available
since PostgreSQL 6.3.
