CREATE_SCHEMA(7pg15)

✨ CREATE SCHEMA 💅

okay so bestie, welcome to CREATE SCHEMA from the PostgreSQL 15.19 docs — this is the page that teaches you how to make a whole new namespace in your database, and honestly? it's giving main character energy. let's get into it 🫶

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🌸 NAME 🌸

CREATE_SCHEMA — define a new schema ✨

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

CREATE SCHEMA schema_name [ AUTHORIZATION role_specification ] [ schema_element [ ... ] ]
CREATE SCHEMA AUTHORIZATION role_specification [ schema_element [ ... ] ]
CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS schema_name [ AUTHORIZATION role_specification ]
CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS AUTHORIZATION role_specification

where role_specification can be:

    user_name
  | CURRENT_ROLE
  | CURRENT_USER
  | SESSION_USER

like, yes, there are four whole shapes this command can take. pick your fighter 💖

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so CREATE SCHEMA enters a brand-new schema into the current database. and the vibe check here is strict: the schema name has to be distinct from the name of any existing schema in the current database. no duplicates, periodt 💅

a schema is essentially a namespace — it contains named objects (tables, data types, functions, and operators) whose names are allowed to duplicate the names of other objects that live in other schemas. iconic, honestly. you access those named objects either by "qualifying" their names with the schema name as a prefix, or by setting a search path that includes the schema(s) you want. and a CREATE command that specifies an unqualified object name creates the object in the current schema — the one at the front of the search path, which you can figure out with the function current_schema. iykyk 🔥

optionally, CREATE SCHEMA can include subcommands that create objects inside the new schema. those subcommands are treated essentially the same as separate commands issued after creating the schema — with one big exception: if the AUTHORIZATION clause is used, all the created objects will be owned by that user. so like, they all match, no cap ✨

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💖 PARAMETERS 💖

• schema_name — the name of a schema to be created. if this is omitted, the user_name is used as the schema name. 🚨 and heads up: the name cannot begin with pg_, because those names are reserved for system schemas. don't try it bestie.
• user_name — the role name of the user who will own the new schema. if it's omitted, it defaults to the user executing the command. to create a schema owned by another role, you must be a direct or indirect member of that role, or be a superuser. 👑
• schema_element — an SQL statement defining an object to be created within the schema. right now, only CREATE TABLE, CREATE VIEW, CREATE INDEX, CREATE SEQUENCE, CREATE TRIGGER and GRANT are accepted as clauses within CREATE SCHEMA. other kinds of objects can be created in separate commands after the schema is created. so yeah, that's the whole list, don't come for me 🍓
• IF NOT EXISTS — do nothing (except issuing a notice) if a schema with the same name already exists. 💀 but lowkey important: schema_element subcommands cannot be included when this option is used.

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⭐ NOTES ⭐

to create a schema, the invoking user must have the CREATE privilege for the current database. (of course, superusers bypass this check — they always do 🙈)

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🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

create a schema:

CREATE SCHEMA myschema;

create a schema for user joe; the schema will also be named joe:

CREATE SCHEMA AUTHORIZATION joe;

create a schema named test that will be owned by user joe, unless there already is a schema named test. (it does not matter whether joe owns the pre-existing schema.)

CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS test AUTHORIZATION joe;

create a schema and create a table and view within it:

CREATE SCHEMA hollywood
    CREATE TABLE films (title text, release date, awards text[])
    CREATE VIEW winners AS
        SELECT title, release FROM films WHERE awards IS NOT NULL;

📌 notice that the individual subcommands do not end with semicolons. that's the whole thing, bestie.

the following is an equivalent way of accomplishing the same result:

CREATE SCHEMA hollywood;
CREATE TABLE hollywood.films (title text, release date, awards text[]);
CREATE VIEW hollywood.winners AS
    SELECT title, release FROM hollywood.films WHERE awards IS NOT NULL;

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🌈 COMPATIBILITY 🌈

the SQL standard allows a DEFAULT CHARACTER SET clause in CREATE SCHEMA, as well as more subcommand types than are presently accepted by PostgreSQL. so, we're doing our own thing a lil bit 🧚

the SQL standard specifies that the subcommands in CREATE SCHEMA can appear in any order. the present PostgreSQL implementation does not handle all cases of forward references in subcommands; it might sometimes be necessary to reorder the subcommands in order to avoid forward references. so like, sometimes you gotta shuffle things around. not a bug, just the vibe 🙈

according to the SQL standard, the owner of a schema always owns all objects within it. PostgreSQL allows schemas to contain objects owned by users other than the schema owner. 💀 this can happen only if the schema owner grants the CREATE privilege on their schema to someone else, or a superuser chooses to create objects in it.

the IF NOT EXISTS option is a PostgreSQL extension. ✨ (ours, our invention, we're obsessed)

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• ALTER SCHEMA (ALTER_SCHEMA(7))
• DROP SCHEMA (DROP_SCHEMA(7))

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and that's the page, bestie 🎀 stay schemin'. mwah 💋

PostgreSQL 15.19 · 2026 — that's the version and date right there, straight from the footer, love u bye 🫶