1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
|
<!--
doc/src/sgml/ref/select_into.sgml
PostgreSQL documentation
-->
<refentry id="sql-selectinto">
<indexterm zone="sql-selectinto">
<primary>SELECT INTO</primary>
</indexterm>
<refmeta>
<refentrytitle>SELECT INTO</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>7</manvolnum>
<refmiscinfo>SQL - Language Statements</refmiscinfo>
</refmeta>
<refnamediv>
<refname>SELECT INTO</refname>
<refpurpose>define a new table from the results of a query</refpurpose>
</refnamediv>
<refsynopsisdiv>
<synopsis>
[ WITH [ RECURSIVE ] <replaceable class="parameter">with_query</replaceable> [, ...] ]
SELECT [ ALL | DISTINCT [ ON ( <replaceable class="parameter">expression</replaceable> [, ...] ) ] ]
* | <replaceable class="parameter">expression</replaceable> [ [ AS ] <replaceable class="parameter">output_name</replaceable> ] [, ...]
INTO [ TEMPORARY | TEMP | UNLOGGED ] [ TABLE ] <replaceable class="parameter">new_table</replaceable>
[ FROM <replaceable class="parameter">from_item</replaceable> [, ...] ]
[ WHERE <replaceable class="parameter">condition</replaceable> ]
[ GROUP BY <replaceable class="parameter">expression</replaceable> [, ...] ]
[ HAVING <replaceable class="parameter">condition</replaceable> ]
[ WINDOW <replaceable class="parameter">window_name</replaceable> AS ( <replaceable class="parameter">window_definition</replaceable> ) [, ...] ]
[ { UNION | INTERSECT | EXCEPT } [ ALL | DISTINCT ] <replaceable class="parameter">select</replaceable> ]
[ ORDER BY <replaceable class="parameter">expression</replaceable> [ ASC | DESC | USING <replaceable class="parameter">operator</replaceable> ] [ NULLS { FIRST | LAST } ] [, ...] ]
[ LIMIT { <replaceable class="parameter">count</replaceable> | ALL } ]
[ OFFSET <replaceable class="parameter">start</replaceable> [ ROW | ROWS ] ]
[ FETCH { FIRST | NEXT } [ <replaceable class="parameter">count</replaceable> ] { ROW | ROWS } ONLY ]
[ FOR { UPDATE | SHARE } [ OF <replaceable class="parameter">table_name</replaceable> [, ...] ] [ NOWAIT ] [...] ]
</synopsis>
</refsynopsisdiv>
<refsect1>
<title>Description</title>
<para>
<command>SELECT INTO</command> 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 <command>SELECT</command>. The new
table's columns have the names and data types associated with the
output columns of the <command>SELECT</command>.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Parameters</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><literal>TEMPORARY</literal> or <literal>TEMP</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
If specified, the table is created as a temporary table. Refer
to <xref linkend="sql-createtable"/> for details.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><literal>UNLOGGED</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
If specified, the table is created as an unlogged table. Refer
to <xref linkend="sql-createtable"/> for details.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><replaceable class="parameter">new_table</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
The name (optionally schema-qualified) of the table to be created.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<para>
All other parameters are described in detail under <xref
linkend="sql-select"/>.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Notes</title>
<para>
<link linkend="sql-createtableas"><command>CREATE TABLE AS</command></link> is functionally similar to
<command>SELECT INTO</command>. <command>CREATE TABLE AS</command>
is the recommended syntax, since this form of <command>SELECT
INTO</command> is not available in <application>ECPG</application>
or <application>PL/pgSQL</application>, because they interpret the
<literal>INTO</literal> clause differently. Furthermore,
<command>CREATE TABLE AS</command> offers a superset of the
functionality provided by <command>SELECT INTO</command>.
</para>
<para>
In contrast to <command>CREATE TABLE AS</command>, <command>SELECT
INTO</command> does not allow specifying properties like a table's access
method with <xref linkend="sql-createtable-method" /> or the table's
tablespace with <xref linkend="sql-createtable-tablespace" />. Use
<command>CREATE TABLE AS</command> if necessary. Therefore, the default table
access method is chosen for the new table. See <xref
linkend="guc-default-table-access-method"/> for more information.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Examples</title>
<para>
Create a new table <literal>films_recent</literal> consisting of only
recent entries from the table <literal>films</literal>:
<programlisting>
SELECT * INTO films_recent FROM films WHERE date_prod >= '2002-01-01';
</programlisting></para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Compatibility</title>
<para>
The SQL standard uses <command>SELECT INTO</command> to
represent selecting values into scalar variables of a host program,
rather than creating a new table. This indeed is the usage found
in <application>ECPG</application> (see <xref linkend="ecpg"/>) and
<application>PL/pgSQL</application> (see <xref linkend="plpgsql"/>).
The <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> usage of <command>SELECT
INTO</command> to represent table creation is historical. Some other SQL
implementations also use <command>SELECT INTO</command> in this way (but
most SQL implementations support <command>CREATE TABLE AS</command>
instead). Apart from such compatibility considerations, it is best to use
<command>CREATE TABLE AS</command> for this purpose in new code.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>See Also</title>
<simplelist type="inline">
<member><xref linkend="sql-createtableas"/></member>
</simplelist>
</refsect1>
</refentry>
|