The SQL CREATE TABLE Statement

The CREATE TABLE statement is used to create a new table in a database.

Syntax

 CREATE TABLE table_name ( 

 column1 datatype,
column2 datatype,
 column3 datatype,
 .... );

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The column parameters specify the names of the columns of the table.

The datatype parameter specifies the type of data the column can hold (e.g. varchar, integer, date, etc.).

Tip: For an overview of the available data types, go to our complete Data Types Reference.

SQL CREATE TABLE Example

The following example creates a table called "student" that contains five columns: Student_id, Last_name, First_name, Address, and City:

Example

 CREATE TABLE student ( 
Student_id int,
Last_name varchar(  255 ),
 First_name varchar(  225 ),
Address varchar(  225 ),
 City varchar(  225 ));

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The student_id column is of type int and will hold an integer.

The Last_name, First_name, Address, and City columns are of type varchar and will hold characters, and the maximum length for these fields is 255 characters.

Create Table Using Another Table

A copy of an existing table can also be created using CREATE TABLE .

The new table gets the same column definitions. All columns or specific columns can be selected.

If you create a new table using an existing table, the new table will be filled with the existing values from the old table.

Example

  CREATE TABLE new_table_name  AS  

 SELECT column1, column2,...
 FROM existing_table_name
 WHERE .....;

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Below SQL creates a new table called "LearnTables" (which is a copy of the "employee" table):

Example

 CREATE TABLE LearnTable  AS 
 SELECT  Employee_name, Address
 FROM  employee;

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