SELECT INTO
Defines a new table from the results of a query.
Synopsis
[ WITH [ RECURSIVE ] <with_query> [, ...] ]
SELECT [ALL | DISTINCT [ON ( <expression> [, ...] )]]
* | <expression> [AS <output_name>] [, ...]
INTO [TEMPORARY | TEMP | UNLOGGED ] [TABLE] <new_table>
[FROM <from_item> [, ...]]
[WHERE <condition>]
[GROUP BY <expression> [, ...]]
[HAVING <condition> [, ...]]
[{UNION | INTERSECT | EXCEPT} [ALL | DISTINCT ] <select>]
[ORDER BY <expression> [ASC | DESC | USING <operator>] [NULLS {FIRST | LAST}] [, ...]]
[LIMIT {<count> | ALL}]
[OFFSET <start> [ ROW | ROWS ] ]
[FETCH { FIRST | NEXT } [ <count> ] { ROW | ROWS } ONLY ]
[FOR {UPDATE | SHARE} [OF <table_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 normal SELECT. The new table’s columns have the names and data types associated with the output columns of the SELECT.
Parameters
The majority of parameters for SELECT INTO are the same as SELECT.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
TEMPORARY TEMP |
If specified, the table is created as a temporary table |
UNLOGGED |
If specified, the table is created as an unlogged table. Data written to unlogged tables is not written to the write-ahead log (WAL), which makes them considerably faster than ordinary tables. However, the contents of an unlogged table are not replicated to mirror segment instances. Also, an unlogged table is not crash-safe. After a segment instance crash or unclean shutdown, the data for the unlogged table on that segment is truncated. Any indexes created on an unlogged table are automatically unlogged as well |
new_table |
The name (optionally schema-qualified) of the table to be created |
Examples
Create a new films_recent table consisting of only recent entries from the films table:
SELECT *
INTO films_recent
FROM films
WHERE date_prod >= '2026-01-01';Compatibility
The SQL standard uses SELECT INTO to represent selecting values into scalar variables of a host program, rather than creating a new table. The Greengage DB usage of SELECT INTO to represent table creation is historical. It is best to use CREATE TABLE AS for this purpose in new applications.