CREATE DATABASSQL)- Language Statements (2002-1CREATE DATABASE(l)
NAME
CREATE DATABASE - create a new database
SYNOPSIS
CREATE DATABASE name
[ [ WITH ] [ OWNER [=] dbowner ]
[ LOCATION [=] 'dbpath' ]
[ TEMPLATE [=] template ]
[ ENCODING [=] encoding ] ]
INPUTS
name The name of a database to create.
dbowner
Name of the database user who will own the new
database, or DEFAULT to use the default (namely, the
user executing the command).
dbpath
An alternate file-system location in which to store the
new database, specified as a string literal; or DEFAULT
to use the default location.
template
Name of template from which to create the new database,
or DEFAULT to use the default template (template1).
encoding
Multibyte encoding method to use in the new database.
Specify a string literal name (e.g., 'SQL_ASCII'), or
an integer encoding number, or DEFAULT to use the
default encoding.
OUTPUTS
CREATE DATABASE
Message returned if the command completes successfully.
ERROR: user 'username' is not allowed to create/drop databases
You must have the special CREATEDB privilege to create
databases. See CREATE USER [create_user(l)].
ERROR: createdb: database "name" already exists
This occurs if a database with the name specified
already exists.
ERROR: database path may not contain single quotes
The database location dbpath cannot contain single
quotes. This is required so that the shell commands
that create the database directory can execute safely.
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CREATE DATABASSQL)- Language Statements (2002-1CREATE DATABASE(l)
ERROR: CREATE DATABASE: may not be called in a transaction block
If you have an explicit transaction block in progress
you cannot call CREATE DATABASE. You must finish the
transaction first.
ERROR: Unable to create database directory 'path'.
ERROR: Could not initialize database directory.
These are most likely related to insufficient
permissions on the data directory, a full disk, or
other file system problems. The user under which the
database server is running must have access to the
location.
DESCRIPTION
CREATE DATABASE creates a new PostgreSQL database.
Normally, the creator becomes the owner of the new database.
Superusers can create databases owned by other users using
the OWNER clause. They can even create databases owned by
users with no special privileges. Non-superusers with
CREATEDB privilege can only create databases owned by
themselves.
An alternate location can be specified in order to, for
example, store the database on a different disk. The path
must have been prepared with the initlocation
[initlocation(1)] command.
If the path name does not contain a slash, it is interpreted
as an environment variable name, which must be known to the
server process. This way the database administrator can
exercise control over locations in which databases can be
created. (A customary choice is, e.g., PGDATA2.) If the
server is compiled with ALLOW_ABSOLUTE_DBPATHS (not so by
default), absolute path names, as identified by a leading
slash (e.g., /usr/local/pgsql/data), are allowed as well.
By default, the new database will be created by cloning the
standard system database template1. A different template can
be specified by writing TEMPLATE = name. In particular, by
writing TEMPLATE = template0, you can create a virgin
database containing only the standard objects predefined by
your version of PostgreSQL. This is useful if you wish to
avoid copying any installation-local objects that may have
been added to template1.
The optional encoding parameter allows selection of the
database encoding, if your server was compiled with
multibyte encoding support. When not specified, it defaults
to the encoding used by the selected template database.
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Optional parameters can be written in any order, not only
the order illustrated above.
NOTES
CREATE DATABASE is a PostgreSQL language extension.
Use DROP DATABASE [drop_database(l)] to remove a database.
The program createdb [createdb(1)] is a shell script wrapper
around this command, provided for convenience.
There are security and data integrity issues involved with
using alternate database locations specified with absolute
path names, and by default only an environment variable
known to the backend may be specified for an alternate
location. See the Administrator's Guide for more
information.
Although it is possible to copy a database other than
template1 by specifying its name as the template, this is
not (yet) intended as a general-purpose COPY DATABASE
facility. We recommend that databases used as templates be
treated as read-only. See the Administrator's Guide for
more information.
USAGE
To create a new database:
olly=> create database lusiadas;
To create a new database in an alternate area ~/private_db:
$ mkdir private_db
$ initlocation ~/private_db
The location will be initialized with username "olly".
This user will own all the files and must also own the server process.
Creating directory /home/olly/private_db
Creating directory /home/olly/private_db/base
initlocation is complete.
$ psql olly
Welcome to psql, the PostgreSQL interactive terminal.
Type: \copyright for distribution terms
\h for help with SQL commands
\? for help on internal slash commands
\g or terminate with semicolon to execute query
\q to quit
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CREATE DATABASSQL)- Language Statements (2002-1CREATE DATABASE(l)
olly=> CREATE DATABASE elsewhere WITH LOCATION = '/home/olly/private_db';
CREATE DATABASE
COMPATIBILITY
SQL92
There is no CREATE DATABASE statement in SQL92. Databases
are equivalent to catalogs, whose creation is
implementation-defined.
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