SHOW CREATE

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Warning:

As of May 16, 2023, CockroachDB v21.2 is no longer supported. For more details, refer to the Release Support Policy.

The SHOW CREATE statement shows the CREATE statement for an existing database, table, view, or sequence.

Required privileges

The user must have any privilege on the target database, table, view, or sequence.

Synopsis

Parameters

Parameter Description

object_name The name of the database, table, view, or sequence for which to show the CREATE statement.

ALL TABLES Show the CREATE statements for all tables, views, and sequences in the current database.
This option is intended to provide the statements required to recreate the objects in the current database. As a result, SHOW CREATE ALL TABLES also returns the ALTER statements that add, modify, and validate an object's constraints. The ALTER statements follow the CREATE statements to guarantee that all objects are added before their references.

Parameter	Description
`object_name`	The name of the database, table, view, or sequence for which to show the `CREATE` statement.
`ALL TABLES`	Show the `CREATE` statements for all tables, views, and sequences in the current database. This option is intended to provide the statements required to recreate the objects in the current database. As a result, `SHOW CREATE ALL TABLES` also returns the `ALTER` statements that add, modify, and validate an object's constraints. The `ALTER` statements follow the `CREATE` statements to guarantee that all objects are added before their references.

Response

Field	Description
`table_name`	The name of the table, view, or sequence.
`database_name`	The name of the database.
`create_statement`	The `CREATE` statement for the database, table, view, or sequence.

Example

Setup

The following examples use MovR, a fictional vehicle-sharing application, to demonstrate CockroachDB SQL statements. For more information about the MovR example application and dataset, see MovR: A Global Vehicle-sharing App.

To follow along, run cockroach demo with the --nodes and --demo-locality flags. This command opens an interactive SQL shell to a temporary, multi-node in-memory cluster with the movr database preloaded and set as the current database.

$ cockroach demo --nodes=6 --demo-locality=region=us-east,zone=us-east-a:region=us-east,zone=us-east-b:region=us-central,zone=us-central-a:region=us-central,zone=us-central-b:region=us-west,zone=us-west-a:region=us-west,zone=us-west-b

Show the `CREATE TABLE` statement for a table

> CREATE TABLE drivers (
    id UUID NOT NULL,
    city STRING NOT NULL,
    name STRING,
    dl STRING UNIQUE,
    address STRING,
    CONSTRAINT "primary" PRIMARY KEY (city ASC, id ASC)
);

> SHOW CREATE TABLE drivers;

  table_name |                     create_statement
-------------+-----------------------------------------------------------
  drivers    | CREATE TABLE public.drivers (
             |     id UUID NOT NULL,
             |     city STRING NOT NULL,
             |     name STRING NULL,
             |     dl STRING NULL,
             |     address STRING NULL,
             |     CONSTRAINT "primary" PRIMARY KEY (city ASC, id ASC),
             |     UNIQUE INDEX drivers_dl_key (dl ASC),
             |     FAMILY "primary" (id, city, name, dl, address)
             | )
(1 row)

To return just the create_statement value:

> SELECT create_statement FROM [SHOW CREATE TABLE drivers];

                      create_statement
------------------------------------------------------------
  CREATE TABLE public.drivers (
      id UUID NOT NULL,
      city STRING NOT NULL,
      name STRING NULL,
      dl STRING NULL,
      address STRING NULL,
      CONSTRAINT "primary" PRIMARY KEY (city ASC, id ASC),
      UNIQUE INDEX drivers_dl_key (dl ASC),
      FAMILY "primary" (id, city, name, dl, address)
  )
(1 row)

Note:

SHOW CREATE TABLE also lists any partitions and zone configurations defined on primary and secondary indexes of a table. If partitions are defined, but no zones are configured, the SHOW CREATE TABLE output includes a warning.

Show the `CREATE VIEW` statement for a view

> CREATE VIEW user_view (city, name) AS SELECT city, name FROM users;

> SHOW CREATE user_view;

  table_name |                                   create_statement
-------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  user_view  | CREATE VIEW public.user_view (city, name) AS SELECT city, name FROM movr.public.users
(1 row)

To return just the create_statement value:

> SELECT create_statement FROM [SHOW CREATE VIEW user_view];

                                    create_statement
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  CREATE VIEW public.user_view (city, name) AS SELECT city, name FROM movr.public.users
(1 row)

Show just a view's `SELECT` statement

To get just a view's SELECT statement, you can query the views table in the built-in information_schema database and filter on the view name:

> SELECT view_definition
  FROM information_schema.views
  WHERE table_name = 'user_view';

              view_definition
--------------------------------------------
  SELECT city, name FROM movr.public.users
(1 row)

Show the `CREATE SEQUENCE` statement for a sequence

> CREATE SEQUENCE desc_customer_list START -1 INCREMENT -2;

> SHOW CREATE desc_customer_list;

      table_name     |                                             create_statement
---------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  desc_customer_list | CREATE SEQUENCE public.desc_customer_list MINVALUE -9223372036854775808 MAXVALUE -1 INCREMENT -2 START -1
(1 row)

To return just the create_statement value:

> SELECT create_statement FROM [SHOW CREATE desc_customer_list];

                                              create_statement
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  CREATE SEQUENCE public.desc_customer_list MINVALUE -9223372036854775808 MAXVALUE -1 INCREMENT -2 START -1
(1 row)

Show the `CREATE TABLE` statement for a table with a comment

If you add a comment on a table, SHOW CREATE TABLE will display the comment.

> COMMENT ON TABLE users IS 'This table contains information about users.';

> SHOW CREATE TABLE users;

  table_name |                                create_statement
-------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  users      | CREATE TABLE public.users (
             |     id UUID NOT NULL,
             |     city VARCHAR NOT NULL,
             |     name VARCHAR NULL,
             |     address VARCHAR NULL,
             |     credit_card VARCHAR NULL,
             |     CONSTRAINT "primary" PRIMARY KEY (city ASC, id ASC),
             |     FAMILY "primary" (id, city, name, address, credit_card)
             | );
             | COMMENT ON TABLE public.users IS 'This table contains information about users.'
(1 row)

To return just the create_statement value:

> SELECT create_statement FROM [SHOW CREATE TABLE users];

                                 create_statement
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  CREATE TABLE public.users (
      id UUID NOT NULL,
      city VARCHAR NOT NULL,
      name VARCHAR NULL,
      address VARCHAR NULL,
      credit_card VARCHAR NULL,
      CONSTRAINT "primary" PRIMARY KEY (city ASC, id ASC),
      FAMILY "primary" (id, city, name, address, credit_card)
  );
  COMMENT ON TABLE public.users IS 'This table contains information about users.'
(1 row)

For more information, see COMMENT ON.

Show the `CREATE TABLE` statement for a table with a multi-region locality

Use the SHOW CREATE TABLE command to view multi-region-defined table localities.

Note:

This is an enterprise-only feature. Request a 30-day trial license to try it out.

To add the first region to the database, or to set an already-added region as the primary region, use a SET PRIMARY REGION statement:

> ALTER DATABASE movr SET PRIMARY REGION "us-east";

ALTER DATABASE PRIMARY REGION


Time: 49ms total (execution 48ms / network 0ms)

All tables will be REGIONAL BY TABLE in us-east by default. Configure the users table to be REGIONAL BY ROW instead:

> ALTER TABLE users SET LOCALITY REGIONAL BY ROW;

> SHOW CREATE TABLE users;

  table_name |                                                                      create_statement
-------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  users      | CREATE TABLE public.users (
             |     id UUID NOT NULL,
             |     city VARCHAR NOT NULL,
             |     name VARCHAR NULL,
             |     address VARCHAR NULL,
             |     credit_card VARCHAR NULL,
             |     crdb_region public.crdb_internal_region NOT VISIBLE NOT NULL DEFAULT default_to_database_primary_region(gateway_region())::public.crdb_internal_region,
             |     CONSTRAINT "primary" PRIMARY KEY (city ASC, id ASC),
             |     FAMILY "primary" (id, city, name, address, credit_card, crdb_region)
             | ) LOCALITY REGIONAL BY ROW;
             | COMMENT ON TABLE public.users IS 'This table contains information about users.'
(1 row)

Show the statements needed to recreate all tables, views, and sequences in the current database

To return the CREATE statements for all of the tables, views, and sequences in the current database, use SHOW CREATE ALL TABLES.

Note that this statement also returns the ALTER statements that add, modify, and validate an object's constraints.

> SHOW CREATE ALL TABLES;

                                                                       create_statement
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  CREATE TABLE public.users (
      id UUID NOT NULL,
      city VARCHAR NOT NULL,
      name VARCHAR NULL,
      address VARCHAR NULL,
      credit_card VARCHAR NULL,
      crdb_region public.crdb_internal_region NOT VISIBLE NOT NULL DEFAULT default_to_database_primary_region(gateway_region())::public.crdb_internal_region,
      CONSTRAINT "primary" PRIMARY KEY (city ASC, id ASC),
      FAMILY "primary" (id, city, name, address, credit_card, crdb_region)
  ) LOCALITY REGIONAL BY ROW;
  COMMENT ON TABLE public.users IS 'This table contains information about users.';
  CREATE TABLE public.vehicles (
      id UUID NOT NULL,
      city VARCHAR NOT NULL,
      type VARCHAR NULL,
      owner_id UUID NULL,
      creation_time TIMESTAMP NULL,
      status VARCHAR NULL,
      current_location VARCHAR NULL,
      ext JSONB NULL,
      CONSTRAINT "primary" PRIMARY KEY (city ASC, id ASC),
      INDEX vehicles_auto_index_fk_city_ref_users (city ASC, owner_id ASC),
      FAMILY "primary" (id, city, type, owner_id, creation_time, status, current_location, ext)
  ) LOCALITY REGIONAL BY TABLE IN PRIMARY REGION;
  CREATE TABLE public.rides (
      id UUID NOT NULL,
      city VARCHAR NOT NULL,
      vehicle_city VARCHAR NULL,
      rider_id UUID NULL,
      vehicle_id UUID NULL,
      start_address VARCHAR NULL,
      end_address VARCHAR NULL,
      start_time TIMESTAMP NULL,
      end_time TIMESTAMP NULL,
      revenue DECIMAL(10,2) NULL,
      CONSTRAINT "primary" PRIMARY KEY (city ASC, id ASC),
      INDEX rides_auto_index_fk_city_ref_users (city ASC, rider_id ASC),
      INDEX rides_auto_index_fk_vehicle_city_ref_vehicles (vehicle_city ASC, vehicle_id ASC),
      FAMILY "primary" (id, city, vehicle_city, rider_id, vehicle_id, start_address, end_address, start_time, end_time, revenue),
      CONSTRAINT check_vehicle_city_city CHECK (vehicle_city = city)
  ) LOCALITY REGIONAL BY TABLE IN PRIMARY REGION;
  CREATE TABLE public.vehicle_location_histories (
      city VARCHAR NOT NULL,
      ride_id UUID NOT NULL,
      "timestamp" TIMESTAMP NOT NULL,
      lat FLOAT8 NULL,
      long FLOAT8 NULL,
      CONSTRAINT "primary" PRIMARY KEY (city ASC, ride_id ASC, "timestamp" ASC),
      FAMILY "primary" (city, ride_id, "timestamp", lat, long)
  ) LOCALITY REGIONAL BY TABLE IN PRIMARY REGION;
  CREATE TABLE public.promo_codes (
      code VARCHAR NOT NULL,
      description VARCHAR NULL,
      creation_time TIMESTAMP NULL,
      expiration_time TIMESTAMP NULL,
      rules JSONB NULL,
      CONSTRAINT "primary" PRIMARY KEY (code ASC),
      FAMILY "primary" (code, description, creation_time, expiration_time, rules)
  ) LOCALITY REGIONAL BY TABLE IN PRIMARY REGION;
  CREATE TABLE public.user_promo_codes (
      city VARCHAR NOT NULL,
      user_id UUID NOT NULL,
      code VARCHAR NOT NULL,
      "timestamp" TIMESTAMP NULL,
      usage_count INT8 NULL,
      CONSTRAINT "primary" PRIMARY KEY (city ASC, user_id ASC, code ASC),
      FAMILY "primary" (city, user_id, code, "timestamp", usage_count)
  ) LOCALITY REGIONAL BY TABLE IN PRIMARY REGION;
  CREATE TABLE public.drivers (
      id UUID NOT NULL,
      city STRING NOT NULL,
      name STRING NULL,
      dl STRING NULL,
      address STRING NULL,
      CONSTRAINT "primary" PRIMARY KEY (city ASC, id ASC),
      UNIQUE INDEX drivers_dl_key (dl ASC),
      FAMILY "primary" (id, city, name, dl, address)
  ) LOCALITY REGIONAL BY TABLE IN PRIMARY REGION;
  CREATE VIEW public.user_view (city, name) AS SELECT city, name FROM movr.public.users;
  CREATE SEQUENCE public.desc_customer_list MINVALUE -9223372036854775808 MAXVALUE -1 INCREMENT -2 START -1;
  ALTER TABLE public.vehicles ADD CONSTRAINT fk_city_ref_users FOREIGN KEY (city, owner_id) REFERENCES public.users(city, id);
  ALTER TABLE public.rides ADD CONSTRAINT fk_city_ref_users FOREIGN KEY (city, rider_id) REFERENCES public.users(city, id);
  ALTER TABLE public.rides ADD CONSTRAINT fk_vehicle_city_ref_vehicles FOREIGN KEY (vehicle_city, vehicle_id) REFERENCES public.vehicles(city, id);
  ALTER TABLE public.vehicle_location_histories ADD CONSTRAINT fk_city_ref_rides FOREIGN KEY (city, ride_id) REFERENCES public.rides(city, id);
  ALTER TABLE public.user_promo_codes ADD CONSTRAINT fk_city_ref_users FOREIGN KEY (city, user_id) REFERENCES public.users(city, id);
  -- Validate foreign key constraints. These can fail if there was unvalidated data during the SHOW CREATE ALL TABLES
  ALTER TABLE public.vehicles VALIDATE CONSTRAINT fk_city_ref_users;
  ALTER TABLE public.rides VALIDATE CONSTRAINT fk_city_ref_users;
  ALTER TABLE public.rides VALIDATE CONSTRAINT fk_vehicle_city_ref_vehicles;
  ALTER TABLE public.vehicle_location_histories VALIDATE CONSTRAINT fk_city_ref_rides;
  ALTER TABLE public.user_promo_codes VALIDATE CONSTRAINT fk_city_ref_users;
(20 rows)

Show the `CREATE DATABASE` statement for a database

New in v21.2: To return the CREATE DATABASE statement for a database, use SHOW CREATE DATABASE:

> SHOW CREATE DATABASE movr;

  database_name |   create_statement
----------------+-----------------------
  movr          | CREATE DATABASE movr
(1 row)

Suppose that you have a multi-region cluster, and you want to return the SHOW CREATE DATABASE statement for a multi-region database.

In a new terminal, start a virtual multi-region demo cluster:

$ cockroach demo --global --nodes 9

In the SQL shell, add regions to the database:

> ALTER DATABASE movr PRIMARY REGION "us-east1";
ALTER DATABASE movr ADD REGION "europe-west1";
ALTER DATABASE movr ADD REGION "us-west1";

The SHOW CREATE DATABASE output includes the database regions.

> SHOW CREATE DATABASE movr;

  database_name |                                                   create_statement
----------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  movr          | CREATE DATABASE movr PRIMARY REGION "us-east1" REGIONS = "europe-west1", "us-east1", "us-west1" SURVIVE ZONE FAILURE
(1 row)

Cockroach
University

Docs Hub

SHOW CREATE

Required privileges

Synopsis

Parameters

Response

Example

Setup

Show the `CREATE TABLE` statement for a table

Show the `CREATE VIEW` statement for a view

Show just a view's `SELECT` statement

Show the `CREATE SEQUENCE` statement for a sequence

Show the `CREATE TABLE` statement for a table with a comment

Show the `CREATE TABLE` statement for a table with a multi-region locality

Show the statements needed to recreate all tables, views, and sequences in the current database

Show the `CREATE DATABASE` statement for a database

See also

Cockroach University

Docs Hub

Cockroach University

Docs Hub

SHOW CREATE

Required privileges

Synopsis

Parameters

Response

Example

Setup

Show the CREATE TABLE statement for a table

Show the CREATE VIEW statement for a view

Show just a view's SELECT statement

Show the CREATE SEQUENCE statement for a sequence

Show the CREATE TABLE statement for a table with a comment

Show the CREATE TABLE statement for a table with a multi-region locality

Show the statements needed to recreate all tables, views, and sequences in the current database

Show the CREATE DATABASE statement for a database

See also

Cockroach
University

Cockroach
University

Show the `CREATE TABLE` statement for a table

Show the `CREATE VIEW` statement for a view

Show just a view's `SELECT` statement

Show the `CREATE SEQUENCE` statement for a sequence

Show the `CREATE TABLE` statement for a table with a comment

Show the `CREATE TABLE` statement for a table with a multi-region locality

Show the `CREATE DATABASE` statement for a database