<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<HTML
><HEAD
><TITLE
>SELECT INTO</TITLE
><META
NAME="GENERATOR"
CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.79"><LINK
REV="MADE"
HREF="mailto:pgsql-docs@postgresql.org"><LINK
REL="HOME"
TITLE="PostgreSQL 8.0.11 Documentation"
HREF="index.html"><LINK
REL="UP"
TITLE="SQL Commands"
HREF="sql-commands.html"><LINK
REL="PREVIOUS"
TITLE="SELECT"
HREF="sql-select.html"><LINK
REL="NEXT"
TITLE="SET"
HREF="sql-set.html"><LINK
REL="STYLESHEET"
TYPE="text/css"
HREF="stylesheet.css"><META
HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type"
CONTENT="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"><META
NAME="creation"
CONTENT="2007-02-02T03:57:22"></HEAD
><BODY
CLASS="REFENTRY"
><DIV
CLASS="NAVHEADER"
><TABLE
SUMMARY="Header navigation table"
WIDTH="100%"
BORDER="0"
CELLPADDING="0"
CELLSPACING="0"
><TR
><TH
COLSPAN="5"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="bottom"
>PostgreSQL 8.0.11 Documentation</TH
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="sql-select.html"
ACCESSKEY="P"
>Prev</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="sql-select.html"
>Fast Backward</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="60%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="bottom"
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="sql-set.html"
>Fast Forward</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="sql-set.html"
ACCESSKEY="N"
>Next</A
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
><HR
ALIGN="LEFT"
WIDTH="100%"></DIV
><H1
><A
NAME="SQL-SELECTINTO"
></A
>SELECT INTO</H1
><DIV
CLASS="REFNAMEDIV"
><A
NAME="AEN45182"
></A
><H2
>Name</H2
>SELECT INTO -- define a new table from the results of a query</DIV
><A
NAME="AEN45185"
></A
><DIV
CLASS="REFSYNOPSISDIV"
><A
NAME="AEN45187"
></A
><H2
>Synopsis</H2
><PRE
CLASS="SYNOPSIS"
>SELECT [ ALL | DISTINCT [ ON ( <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>expression</I
></TT
> [, ...] ) ] ]
* | <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>expression</I
></TT
> [ AS <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>output_name</I
></TT
> ] [, ...]
INTO [ TEMPORARY | TEMP ] [ TABLE ] <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>new_table</I
></TT
>
[ FROM <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>from_item</I
></TT
> [, ...] ]
[ WHERE <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>condition</I
></TT
> ]
[ GROUP BY <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>expression</I
></TT
> [, ...] ]
[ HAVING <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>condition</I
></TT
> [, ...] ]
[ { UNION | INTERSECT | EXCEPT } [ ALL ] <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>select</I
></TT
> ]
[ ORDER BY <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>expression</I
></TT
> [ ASC | DESC | USING <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>operator</I
></TT
> ] [, ...] ]
[ LIMIT { <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>count</I
></TT
> | ALL } ]
[ OFFSET <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>start</I
></TT
> ]
[ FOR UPDATE [ OF <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>tablename</I
></TT
> [, ...] ] ]</PRE
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="AEN45203"
></A
><H2
>Description</H2
><P
> <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>SELECT INTO</TT
> creates a new table and fills it
with data computed by a query. The data is not returned to the
client, as it is with a normal <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>SELECT</TT
>. The new
table's columns have the names and data types associated with the
output columns of the <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>SELECT</TT
>.
</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="AEN45209"
></A
><H2
>Parameters</H2
><P
></P
><DIV
CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
><DL
><DT
><TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>TEMPORARY</TT
> or <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>TEMP</TT
></DT
><DD
><P
> If specified, the table is created as a temporary table. Refer
to <A
HREF="sql-createtable.html"
><I
>CREATE TABLE</I
></A
> for details.
</P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>new_table</I
></TT
></DT
><DD
><P
> The name (optionally schema-qualified) of the table to be created.
</P
></DD
></DL
></DIV
><P
> All other parameters are described in detail under <A
HREF="sql-select.html"
><I
>SELECT</I
></A
>.
</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="AEN45226"
></A
><H2
>Notes</H2
><P
> <A
HREF="sql-createtableas.html"
><I
>CREATE TABLE AS</I
></A
> is functionally similar to
<TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>SELECT INTO</TT
>. <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>CREATE TABLE AS</TT
>
is the recommended syntax, since this form of <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>SELECT
INTO</TT
> is not available in <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>ECPG</SPAN
>
or <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>PL/pgSQL</SPAN
>, because they interpret the
<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>INTO</TT
> clause differently. Furthermore,
<TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>CREATE TABLE AS</TT
> offers a superset of the
functionality provided by <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>SELECT INTO</TT
>.
</P
><P
> Prior to <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
> 8.0, the table created by
<TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>SELECT INTO</TT
> always included OIDs.
As of <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
> 8.0, the
inclusion of OIDs in the table created by <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>SELECT
INTO</TT
> is controlled by the
<A
HREF="runtime-config.html#GUC-DEFAULT-WITH-OIDS"
>default_with_oids</A
> configuration variable. This
variable currently defaults to true, but will likely default to
false in a future release of <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
>.
</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="AEN45245"
></A
><H2
>Examples</H2
><P
> Create a new table <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>films_recent</TT
> consisting of only
recent entries from the table <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>films</TT
>:
</P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>SELECT * INTO films_recent FROM films WHERE date_prod >= '2002-01-01';</PRE
><P>
</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="AEN45251"
></A
><H2
>Compatibility</H2
><P
> The SQL standard uses <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>SELECT INTO</TT
> to
represent selecting values into scalar variables of a host program,
rather than creating a new table. This indeed is the usage found
in <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>ECPG</SPAN
> (see <A
HREF="ecpg.html"
>Chapter 29</A
>) and
<SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>PL/pgSQL</SPAN
> (see <A
HREF="plpgsql.html"
>Chapter 35</A
>).
The <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
> usage of <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>SELECT
INTO</TT
> to represent table creation is historical. It is
best to use <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>CREATE TABLE AS</TT
> for this purpose in
new code.
</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="AEN45262"
></A
><H2
>See Also</H2
><A
HREF="sql-createtableas.html"
><I
>CREATE TABLE AS</I
></A
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
><HR
ALIGN="LEFT"
WIDTH="100%"><TABLE
SUMMARY="Footer navigation table"
WIDTH="100%"
BORDER="0"
CELLPADDING="0"
CELLSPACING="0"
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="sql-select.html"
ACCESSKEY="P"
>Prev</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="34%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="index.html"
ACCESSKEY="H"
>Home</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="sql-set.html"
ACCESSKEY="N"
>Next</A
></TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
>SELECT</TD
><TD
WIDTH="34%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="sql-commands.html"
ACCESSKEY="U"
>Up</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
>SET</TD
></TR
></TABLE
></DIV
></BODY
></HTML
>
