SQL in a Nutshell

Name

CREATE DATABASE

Synopsis

SQL99 does not actually contain a CREATE DATABASE statement. The closest SQL99 gets to the CREATE DATABASE statement is the CREATE SCHEMA and CREATE CATALOG statements. (CREATE SCHEMA is detailed later.) However, it is nearly impossible to operate a SQL database without this command. Almost all database vendors support some version of this command.

Vendor	Command
SQL Server	Supported, with variations
MySQL	Supported
Oracle	Supported
PostgreSQL	Supported, with variations

SQL99 Syntax and Description

CREATE database_name

In this syntax, database_name is the identifier of the new database to be created. This command creates a new, blank database with a specific name. Most vendors require a user to be in the root, master, or system database to create a new database. Once the new database is created, it can then be filled with database objects (such as tables, views, triggers, and so on), and the tables populated with data.

Microsoft SQL Server Syntax and Variations

In SQL Server and Oracle, the database is instantiated in a pre-created file structure. These files act as go-betweens for the database system and the operating system. As a result, the SQL Server and Oracle variants of CREATE DATABASE are similarly more sophisticated.

The syntax for Microsoft SQL Server looks like this:

CREATE DATABASE database_name
[ ON [PRIMARY]
[ <file> [,...n] ]
[, <file_group> [,...n] ]
]
[ LOG ON { <file> [,...n]} ]
[ FOR LOAD | FOR ATTACH ]
GO

In this implementation, ...