Editing Data definition language (section)

====CREATE TABLE statement====
A commonly used ''CREATE'' command is the ''CREATE TABLE'' command. The typical usage is:

 CREATE TABLE ''[table name]'' ( ''[column definitions]'' ) ''[table parameters]''

The column definitions are:
*A comma-separated list consisting of any of the following
*Column definition: ''[column name]'' ''[data type]'' ''{NULL | NOT NULL}'' ''{column options}''
*[[Primary key]] definition: ''PRIMARY KEY'' ( ''[comma separated column list]'' )
*Constraints: ''{CONSTRAINT}'' ''[constraint definition]''
*[[relational database system|RDBMS]] specific functionality

An example statement to create a table named ''employees'' with a few columns is:
<syntaxhighlight lang="sql">
CREATE TABLE employees (
    id            INTEGER       PRIMARY KEY,
    first_name    VARCHAR(50)   not null,
    last_name     VARCHAR(75)   not null,
    mid_name      VARCHAR(50)   not null,
    dateofbirth   DATE          not null
);
</syntaxhighlight>

Some forms of ''CREATE TABLE DDL'' may incorporate DML ([[data manipulation language]])-like constructs, such as the ''CREATE TABLE AS SELECT'' (CTaS) syntax of SQL.<ref>
{{cite book
| last                  = Allen
| first                 = Grant
| others                = Mike Owens
| title                 = The Definitive Guide to SQLite
| url                   = https://books.google.com/books?id=WLinoJaOUCwC
| access-date            = 2012-10-02
| edition               = 2
| series                = Apresspod
| year                  = 2010
| publisher             = Apress
| isbn                  = 9781430232254
| pages                  = 90–91
| quote                 = The ''create table'' statement has a special syntax for creating tables from ''select'' statements. [...]: [...] ''create table foods2 as select * from foods;'' [...] Many other databases refer to this approach as ''CTaS'', which stands for Create Table as Select, and that phrase is not uncommon among SQLite users.
}}
</ref>