NAME
SELECT_INTO - define a new table from the results of a query
SYNOPSIS
[ WITH [ RECURSIVE ] \nwith_query\n [, ...] ]
SELECT [ ALL | DISTINCT [ ON ( \nexpression\n [, ...] ) ] ]
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[ { * | \nexpression\n [ [ AS ] \noutput_name\n ] } [, ...] ]
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INTO [ TEMPORARY | TEMP | UNLOGGED ] [ TABLE ] \nnew_table\n
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[ FROM \nfrom_item\n [, ...] ]
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[ WHERE \ncondition\n ]
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[ GROUP BY \nexpression\n [, ...] ]
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[ HAVING \ncondition\n ]
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[ WINDOW \nwindow_name\n AS ( \nwindow_definition\n ) [, ...] ]
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[ { UNION | INTERSECT | EXCEPT } [ ALL | DISTINCT ] \nselect\n ]
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[ ORDER BY \nexpression\n [ ASC | DESC | USING \noperator\n ] [ NULLS { FIRST | LAST } ] [, ...] ]
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[ LIMIT { \ncount\n | ALL } ]
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[ OFFSET \nstart\n [ ROW | ROWS ] ]
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[ FETCH { FIRST | NEXT } [ \ncount\n ] { ROW | ROWS } ONLY ]
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[ FOR { UPDATE | SHARE } [ OF \ntable_name\n [, ...] ] [ NOWAIT ] [...] ]DESCRIPTION
SELECT INTO 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 SELECT. The new table's columns have the names and data types associated with the output columns of the SELECT.
PARAMETERS
TEMPORARY or TEMP
UNLOGGED
new_table
All other parameters are described in detail under SELECT(7).
NOTES
CREATE TABLE AS is functionally similar to SELECT INTO. CREATE TABLE AS is the recommended syntax, since this form of SELECT INTO is not available in ECPG or PL/pgSQL, because they interpret the INTO clause differently. Furthermore, CREATE TABLE AS offers a superset of the functionality provided by SELECT INTO.
In contrast to CREATE TABLE AS, SELECT INTO does not allow specifying properties like a table's access method with USING method or the table's tablespace with TABLESPACE tablespace_name. Use CREATE TABLE AS if necessary. Therefore, the default table access method is chosen for the new table. See default_table_access_method for more information.
EXAMPLES
Create a new table films_recent consisting of only recent entries from the table films:
SELECT * INTO films_recent FROM films WHERE date_prod >= '2002-01-01';COMPATIBILITY
The SQL standard uses SELECT INTO to represent selecting values into scalar variables of a host program, rather than creating a new table. This indeed is the usage found in ECPG (see Chapter 34) and PL/pgSQL (see Chapter 41). The PostgreSQL usage of SELECT INTO to represent table creation is historical. Some other SQL implementations also use SELECT INTO in this way (but most SQL implementations support CREATE TABLE AS instead). Apart from such compatibility considerations, it is best to use CREATE TABLE AS for this purpose in new code.
SEE ALSO
CREATE TABLE AS (CREATE_TABLE_AS(7))