Creating Databases

and Tables
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● We’ve focused on querying and reading data from

existing databases and tables.
● Let’s now shift our focus to creating our own
databases and tables.
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● Section Overview
○ Data Types
○ Primary and Foreign Keys
○ Constraints
○ CREATE
○ INSERT
○ UPDATE
○ DELETE, ALTER, DROP
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● We first focus on learning a few theoretical concepts,

such as choosing the correct data type for a stored
value and setting possible constraints on it.
● We will also learn about primary and foreign keys.
Data Types
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● We’ve already encountered a variety of data types,

let’s quickly review the main data types in SQL.
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● Boolean
○ True or False
● Character
○ char, varchar, and text
● Numeric
○ integer and floating-point number
● Temporal
○ date, time, timestamp, and interval
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● UUID
○ Universally Unique Identifiers
● Array
○ Stores an array of strings, numbers, etc.
● JSON
● Hstore key-value pair
● Special types such as network address and geometric
data.
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● When creating databases and tables, you should

carefully consider which data types should be used for
the data to be stored.
● Review the documentation to see limitations of data
types:
● postgresql.org/docs/current/datatype.html
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● For example
○ Imagine we want to store a phone number, should it
be stored as numeric?
○ If so, which type of numeric?
● We could take a look at the documentation for
options...
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● For example
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● Based on the limitations, you may think it makes sense

to store it as a BIGINT data type, but we should really
be thinking what is best for the situation.
● Why bother with numerics at all?
● We don’t perform arithmetic with numbers, so it
probably makes more sense as a VARCHAR data type
instead.
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● In fact, searching for best practice online, you will

discover its usually recommended to store as a text
based data type due to a variety of issues
○ No arithmetic performed
○ Leading zeros could cause issues, 7 and 07 treated
same numerically, but are not the same phone
number
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● When creating a database and table, take your time to

plan for long term storage
● Remember you can always remove historical
information you’ve decided you aren’t using, but you
can’t go back in time to add in information!
Primary and Foreign Keys
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● A primary key is a column or a group of columns used

to identify a row uniquely in a table.
● For example, in our dvdrental database we saw
customers had a unique, non-null customer_id column
as their primary key.
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● Primary keys are also important since they allow us to

easily discern what columns should be used for joining
tables together.
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● Example of Primary Key

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● Example of Primary Key

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● Notice its integer based and unique

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● Later we will learn about SERIAL data type

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● A foreign key is a field or group of fields in a table that

uniquely identifies a row in another table.
● A foreign key is defined in a table that references to the
primary key of the other table.
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● The table that contains the foreign key is called

referencing table or child table.
● The table to which the foreign key references is called
referenced table or parent table.
● A table can have multiple foreign keys depending on its
relationships with other tables.
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● Recall in the dvdrental database payment table, each

payment row had its unique payment_id ( a primary
key) and identified the customer that made the payment
through the customer_id (a foreign key since it
references the customer table’s primary key)
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● Example
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● Primary Key for Payment Table

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● Multiple Foreign Key References

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● Note pgAdmin won’t alert you to FK

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● You may begin to realize primary key and foreign key

typically make good column choices for joining
together two or more tables.
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● When creating tables and defining columns, we can use

constraints to define columns as being a primary key,
or attaching a foreign key relationship to another table.
● Let’s quickly explore table properties in pgAdmin to
see how to get information on primary and foreign
keys!
Constraints
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● Constraints are the rules enforced on data columns on

table.
● These are used to prevent invalid data from being
entered into the database.
● This ensures the accuracy and reliability of the data in
the database.
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● Constraints can be divided into two main categories:

○ Column Constraints
■ Constrains the data in a column to adhere to
certain conditions.
○ Table Constraints
■ applied to the entire table rather than to an
individual column.
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● The most common constraints used:

○ NOT NULL Constraint
■ Ensures that a column cannot have NULL value.
○ UNIQUE Constraint
■ Ensures that all values in a column are different.
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● The most common constraints used:

○ PRIMARY Key
■ Uniquely identifies each row/record in a
database table.
○ FOREIGN Key
■ Constrains data based on columns in other tables.
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● The most common constraints used:

○ CHECK Constraint
■ Ensures that all values in a column satisfy certain
conditions.
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● The most common constraints used:

○ EXCLUSION Constraint
■ Ensures that if any two rows are compared on the
specified column or expression using the
specified operator, not all of these comparisons
will return TRUE.
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● Table Constraints
○ CHECK (condition)
■ to check a condition when inserting or updating
data.
○ REFERENCES
■ to constrain the value stored in the column that
must exist in a column in another table.
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● Table Constraints
○ UNIQUE (column_list)
■ forces the values stored in the columns listed
inside the parentheses to be unique.
○ PRIMARY KEY(column_list)
■ Allows you to define the primary key that
consists of multiple columns.
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● Now that we understand data types, primary keys,

foreign keys, and constraints we are ready to begin
using SQL syntax to create tables!
CREATE
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● Let’s now learn the syntax to create a table in SQL

using the CREATE keyword and column syntax.
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● Full General Syntax

○ CREATE TABLE table_name (
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
table_constraint table_constraint
) INHERITS existing_table_name;
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● Full General Syntax

○ CREATE TABLE table_name (
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
table_constraint table_constraint
) INHERITS existing_table_name;
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● Full General Syntax

○ CREATE TABLE table_name (
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
table_constraint table_constraint
) INHERITS existing_table_name;
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● Full General Syntax

○ CREATE TABLE table_name (
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
table_constraint table_constraint
) INHERITS existing_table_name;
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● Full General Syntax

○ CREATE TABLE table_name (
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
table_constraint table_constraint
) INHERITS existing_table_name;
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● Full General Syntax

○ CREATE TABLE table_name (
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
table_constraint table_constraint
) INHERITS existing_table_name;
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● Full General Syntax

○ CREATE TABLE table_name (
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
table_constraint table_constraint
) INHERITS existing_table_name;
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● Common Simple Syntax

○ CREATE TABLE table_name (
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
);
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● Example Syntax
○ CREATE TABLE table_name (
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
);
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● Example Syntax
○ CREATE TABLE players(
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
);
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● Example Syntax
○ CREATE TABLE players(
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
);
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● Example Syntax
○ CREATE TABLE players(
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
);
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● Example Syntax
○ CREATE TABLE players(
player_id TYPE column_constraint,
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
);
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● Example Syntax
○ CREATE TABLE players(
player_id TYPE column_constraint,
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
);
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● Example Syntax
○ CREATE TABLE players(
player_id SERIAL column_constraint,
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
);
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● SERIAL
○ In PostgreSQL, a sequence is a special kind of
database object that generates a sequence of
integers.
○ A sequence is often used as the primary key column
in a table.
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● SERIAL
○ It will create a sequence object and set the next
value generated by the sequence as the default value
for the column.
○ This is perfect for a primary key, because it logs
unique integer entries for you automatically upon
insertion.
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● SERIAL
○ If a row is later removed, the column with the
SERIAL data type will not adjust, marking the fact
that a row was removed from the sequence, for
example
■ 1,2,3,5,6,7
● You know row 4 was removed at some point
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● SERIAL
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● SERIAL
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● Example Syntax
○ CREATE TABLE players(
player_id SERIAL column_constraint,
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
);
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● Example Syntax
○ CREATE TABLE players(
player_id SERIAL column_constraint,
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
);
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● Example Syntax
○ CREATE TABLE players(
player_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
);
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● Example Syntax
○ CREATE TABLE players(
player_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
column_name TYPE column_constraint,
);
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● Example Syntax
○ CREATE TABLE players(
player_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
age TYPE column_constraint,
);
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● Example Syntax
○ CREATE TABLE players(
player_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
age TYPE column_constraint,
);
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● For example
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● For example
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● Example Syntax
○ CREATE TABLE players(
player_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
age TYPE column_constraint
);
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● Example Syntax
○ CREATE TABLE players(
player_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
age SMALLINT column_constraint
);
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● Example Syntax
○ CREATE TABLE players(
player_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
age SMALLINT column_constraint
);
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● Example Syntax
○ CREATE TABLE players(
player_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
age SMALLINT NOT NULL
);
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● Example Syntax
○ CREATE TABLE players(
player_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
age SMALLINT NOT NULL
);
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● Let’s explore some examples in pgAdmin!

INSERT
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● INSERT allows you to add in rows to a table.

● General Syntax
○ INSERT INTO table (column1, column2, …)
VALUES
(value1, value2, …),
(value1, value2, …) ,...;
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● INSERT allows you to add in rows to a table.

● Syntax for Inserting Values from another table:
○ INSERT INTO table(column1,column2,...)
SELECT column1,column2,...
FROM another_table
WHERE condition;
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● Keep in mind, the inserted row values must match up

for the table, including constraints.
● SERIAL columns do not need to be provided a value.
● Let’s use INSERT in pgAdmin!
UPDATE
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● The UPDATE keyword allows for the changing of

values of the columns in a table.
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● General Syntax
○ UPDATE table
SET column1 = value1,
column2 = value2 ,...
WHERE
condition;
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● Example
○ UPDATE account
SET last_login = CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
WHERE last_login IS NULL;
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● Reset everything without WHERE condition

○ UPDATE account
SET last_login = CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
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● Set based on another column

○ UPDATE account
SET last_login = created_on
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● Using another table’s values (UPDATE join)

○ UPDATE TableA
SET original_col = TableB.new_col
FROM tableB
WHERE tableA.id = TableB.id
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● Return affected rows

○ UPDATE account
SET last_login = created_on
RETURNING account_id,last_login
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● Let’s explore this further in pgAdmin!

DELETE
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● We can use the DELETE clause to remove rows from a

table.
● For example:
○ DELETE FROM table
WHERE row_id = 1
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● We can delete rows based on their presence in other

tables
● For example:
○ DELETE FROM tableA
USING tableB
WHERE tableA.id=TableB.id
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● We can delete all rows from a table

● For example:
○ DELETE FROM table
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● Similar to UPDATE command, you can also add in a

RETURNING call to return rows that were removed.
● Let’s explore DELETE with pgAdmin!
ALTER
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● The ALTER clause allows for changes to an existing

table structure, such as:
○ Adding,dropping,or renaming columns
○ Changing a column’s data type
○ Set DEFAULT values for a column
○ Add CHECK constraints
○ Rename table
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● General Syntax
○ ALTER TABLE table_name action
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● Adding Columns
○ ALTER TABLE table_name
ADD COLUMN new_col TYPE
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● Removing Columns
○ ALTER TABLE table_name
DROP COLUMN col_name
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● Alter constraints
○ ALTER TABLE table_name
ALTER COLUMN col_name
SET DEFAULT value
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● Alter constraints
○ ALTER TABLE table_name
ALTER COLUMN col_name
DROP DEFAULT
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● Alter constraints
○ ALTER TABLE table_name
ALTER COLUMN col_name
SET NOT NULL
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● Alter constraints
○ ALTER TABLE table_name
ALTER COLUMN col_name
DROP NOT NULL
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● Alter constraints
○ ALTER TABLE table_name
ALTER COLUMN col_name
ADD CONSTRAINT constraint_name
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● Let’s explore some examples in pgAdmin!

DROP
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● DROP allows for the complete removal of a column in

a table.
● In PostgreSQL this will also automatically remove all
of its indexes and constraints involving the column.
● However, it will not remove columns used in views,
triggers, or stored procedures without the additional
CASCADE clause.
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● General Syntax
○ ALTER TABLE table_name
DROP COLUMN col_name
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● Remove all dependencies

○ ALTER TABLE table_name
DROP COLUMN col_name CASCADE
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● Check for existence to avoid error

○ ALTER TABLE table_name
DROP COLUMN IF EXISTS col_name
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● Drop multiple columns

○ ALTER TABLE table_name
DROP COLUMN col_one,
DROP COLUMN col_two
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● Let’s see a quick example in pgAdmin!

CHECK
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● The CHECK constraint allows us to create more

customized constraints that adhere to a certain
condition.
● Such as making sure all inserted integer values fall
below a certain threshold.
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● General Syntax
○ CREATE TABLE example(
ex_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
age SMALLINT CHECK (age > 21),
parent_age SMALLINT CHECK ( parent_age >
age)
);
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● Let’s explore this concept in pgAdmin!