SELECT_INTO(7pg16)

💖 NAME 💖

okay so this is the SELECT_INTO(7) page, bestie 🦋 — and SELECT_INTO is literally the move where you define a new table from the results of a query. no cap.

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🌸 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 ]
    [ WINDOW window_name AS ( window_definition ) [, ...] ]
    [ { 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 ✨

So 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. That's the vibe: query output goes into a table, not straight back to your client.

🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

• TEMPORARY or TEMP — if specified, the table is created as a temporary table. Refer to CREATE TABLE (CREATE_TABLE(7)) for details.
• UNLOGGED — if specified, the table is created as an unlogged table. Refer to CREATE TABLE (CREATE_TABLE(7)) for details.
• new_table — the name (optionally schema-qualified) of the table to be created.
• All other parameters — described in detail under SELECT(7).

💀 NOTES 💀

CREATE TABLE AS is functionally similar to SELECT INTO. CREATE TABLE AS is the recommended syntax, since this form of SELECT INTO is not available in ECPG or PL/pgSQL, because they interpret the INTO clause differently. Furthermore, CREATE TABLE AS offers a superset of the functionality provided by SELECT INTO.

bestie this is the part where you listen: use CREATE TABLE AS if you can, periodt 💖

In contrast to CREATE TABLE AS, SELECT INTO does not allow specifying properties like a table's access method with USING method or the table's tablespace with TABLESPACE tablespace_name. Use CREATE TABLE AS if necessary. Therefore, the default table access method is chosen for the new table. See default_table_access_method for more information.

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

Create a new table films_recent consisting of only recent entries from the table films:

SELECT * INTO films_recent FROM films WHERE date_prod >= '2002-01-01';

🫶 COMPATIBILITY 🫶

The SQL standard uses SELECT INTO to represent selecting values into scalar variables of a host program, rather than creating a new table. This indeed is the usage found in ECPG (see Chapter 36) and PL/pgSQL (see Chapter 43). The PostgreSQL usage of SELECT INTO to represent table creation is historical. Some other SQL implementations also use SELECT INTO in this way (but most SQL implementations support CREATE TABLE AS instead). Apart from such compatibility considerations, it is best to use CREATE TABLE AS for this purpose in new code.

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

CREATE TABLE AS (CREATE_TABLE_AS(7))

xoxo, your Unix bestie 💅 — this page is from PostgreSQL 16.15 and dated 2026.