![]() ![]() This is what the code would look like in PostgreSQL: school_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY In our teachers table, we can add a PRIMARY KEY to the school_id column. CHECK - tests a value against a boolean expression.UNIQUE - all the values in the column need to be unique.FOREIGN KEY - this key makes sure that the values in a column are also present in another table.PRIMARY KEY - this key serves as a unique identifier for the table.Here is a list of the some of the more common column constraints: These are rules that are applied to the data inside the table columns. name VARCHAR(30) column_constraint,Įmail VARCHAR(30) column_constraint, Column Constraints in SQL The number 30 is the maximum character length. This is an example of using the VARCHAR data type for the name and email columns in our teachers table. What is the VARCHAR data type?Ī VARCHAR data type is a variable string length where you can set a maximum character length. If we added five rows to our teachers table, the output would show the numbers of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 for the school_id column because the integer automatically increments by one for each new row. ![]() In this example, the INT data type is used which represents an integer. In MySQL, you would use AUTO_INCREMENT instead of SERIAL. We can add SERIAL right after the school_id column in our teachers table. In PostgreSQL, a SERIAL data type is an integer that will automatically increment by one for every new row that is created. Here is the complete list of PostgreSQL data types and MySQL data types. This article will not go through every single data type but will cover some of the popular ones. Character and string (char, varchar, text, etc).Data and time (timestamp, data, time, etc).Numeric (int, float, serial, decimal, etc).Here are six popular categories of data types in SQL: Data types describe the type of value inside the columns. When you are creating columns in the table, you need to assign it a data type. Similar to MySQL, an exact limit can vary depending on disk space or performance restrictions. If you are working on smaller MySQL personal projects, then you probably won't have to worry about exceeding the number of columns for your tables.Īccording to the PostgreSQL documentation, there is a limit of 1600 columns per table. The exact column limit depends on several factors. CREATE TABLE teachers(Īccording to the MySQL documentation: MySQL has a hard limit of 4096 columns per table, but the effective maximum may be less for a given table. Each column name should be separated by commas. ![]() This is an example of how we can add four columns of school_id, name, email and age to our teachers table. Inside the parenthesis for the CREATE TABLE statement, you are going to list the names of the columns you want to create along with their data types and constraints. CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS teachers() ĬREATE TABLE teachers() How to create columns in the table But if I try to create that same table in the next command I will run into an error. In this example, I first created a table called teachers. If you omit the IF NOT EXISTS clause and try to create a table that already exists in the database, then you will get an error message. If the table already exists, then the computer will not create a new table. You can place that clause just before the table name. There is an optional clause called IF NOT EXISTS that will check if the table you want to create already exists in the database. )ENGINE=storage_engine What is the IF NOT EXISTS clause? If you omit the ENGINE clause then the default will be InnoDB. In MySQL, you have the option to specify the type of storage engine you want to use for your table. MySQL uses these storage engines to perform CRUD (create, read, update and delete) operations on the database. What are MySQL storage engines?Īccording to the MySQL documentation: Storage engines are MySQL components that handle the SQL operations for different table types. You will sometimes hear this referred to as a statement terminator. The semicolon at the end of the parenthesis tells the computer it is the end of the SQL statement. If you forget the parenthesis, then you will get an error message. Inside the parenthesis, you will add the information for creating the columns for the table. If I wanted to create a table of teacher information, then I would write something like this: CREATE TABLE teachers() Here is the basic syntax for the CREATE TABLE statement: CREATE TABLE table_name(įor the first part, you need to start with the CREATE TABLE statement followed by the name of the table you want to create. In this tutorial, I will walk you through the SQL syntax for the CREATE TABLE statement using code examples for both PostgreSQL and MySQL. Knowing how to create tables in SQL is an important and fundamental concept.
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