Name

Synopsis

[ WITH [ RECURSIVE ]with_query [, ...] ]SELECT [ ALL | DISTINCT [ ON (expression [, ...] ) ] ]    * |expression [ [ AS ]output_name ] [, ...]    INTO [ TEMPORARY | TEMP | UNLOGGED ] [ TABLE ]new_table    [ FROMfrom_item [, ...] ]    [ WHEREcondition ]    [ GROUP BYexpression [, ...] ]    [ HAVINGcondition [, ...] ]    [ WINDOWwindow_name AS (window_definition ) [, ...] ]    [ { UNION | INTERSECT | EXCEPT } [ ALL | DISTINCT ]select ]    [ ORDER BYexpression [ ASC | DESC | USINGoperator ] [ NULLS { FIRST | LAST } ] [, ...] ]    [ LIMIT {count | ALL } ]    [ OFFSETstart [ ROW | ROWS ] ]    [ FETCH { FIRST | NEXT } [count ] { ROW | ROWS } ONLY ]    [ FOR { UPDATE | SHARE } [ OFtable_name [, ...] ] [ 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 normalSELECT. The new table's columns have the names and data types associated with the output columns of theSELECT.

Parameters

All other parameters are described in detail underSELECT.

Notes

CREATE TABLE AS is functionally similar toSELECT INTO.CREATE TABLE AS is the recommended syntax, since this form ofSELECT INTO is not available inECPG orPL/pgSQL, because they interpret theINTO clause differently. Furthermore,CREATE TABLE AS offers a superset of the functionality provided bySELECT INTO.

To add OIDs to the table created bySELECT INTO, enable thedefault_with_oids configuration variable. Alternatively,CREATE TABLE AS can be used with theWITH OIDS clause.

Examples

Create a new tablefilms_recent consisting of only recent entries from the tablefilms:

SELECT * INTO films_recent FROM films WHERE date_prod >= '2002-01-01';

Compatibility

The SQL standard usesSELECT INTO to represent selecting values into scalar variables of a host program, rather than creating a new table. This indeed is the usage found inECPG (seeChapter 33) andPL/pgSQL (seeChapter 40). ThePostgreSQL usage ofSELECT INTO to represent table creation is historical. It is best to useCREATE TABLE AS for this purpose in new code.

See Also