CREATE VIEW statement

Synopsis

CREATE [ OR REPLACE ] VIEW view_name
[ SECURITY { DEFINER | INVOKER } ]
AS query

Description

Create a new view of a SELECT query. The view is a logical table that can be referenced by future queries. Views do not contain any data. Instead, the query stored by the view is executed every time the view is referenced by another query.

The optional OR REPLACE clause causes the view to be replaced if it already exists rather than raising an error.

Security

In the default DEFINER security mode, tables referenced in the view are accessed using the permissions of the view owner (the creator or definer of the view) rather than the user executing the query. This allows providing restricted access to the underlying tables, for which the query user may not be allowed to access directly. Note that the current_userfunction will return the query user, not the view owner, and thus may be used to filter out rows or otherwise restrict access based on the user currently accessing the view.

In the INVOKER security mode, tables referenced in the view are accessed using the permissions of the query user (the invoker of the view). A view created in this mode is simply a stored query.

Examples

Create a simple view test over the orders table:

CREATE VIEW test AS
SELECT orderkey, orderstatus, totalprice / 2 AS half
FROM orders

Create a view orders_by_date that summarizes orders:

CREATE VIEW orders_by_date AS
SELECT orderdate, sum(totalprice) AS price
FROM orders
GROUP BY orderdate

Create the table orders_by_date if it does not already exist:

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS orders_by_date AS
SELECT orderdate, sum(totalprice) AS price
FROM orders
GROUP BY orderdate

Create a new empty_nation table with the same schema as nation and no data:

CREATE TABLE empty_nation AS
SELECT *
FROM nation
WITH NO DATA