SQL CREATE DATABASE Statement

In this tutorial you will learn how to create database in a relational database management system like, MySQL, SQL Server, etc. using SQL.

Creating a Database

Before doing anything with the data we must need to create a database first. We’re assuming that you already have a MySQL, or SQL Server available for your use.

The SQL CREATE DATABASE statement is used to create a database.

Syntax

The basic syntax for creating a database can be given with:

CREATE DATABASE database_name;

The following SQL statement creates a database named demo:

CREATE DATABASE demo;

Creating a database does not select it for use. So, before moving further we must need to select the target database with the USE statement. For example, the USE demo; command sets the demo database as target database for all future commands.

Note: In Unix, the database and table names are case-sensitive, so you must always refer to your database as demo, not as Demo, DEMO, or something else. But, SQL keywords are case-insensitive, like CREATE DATABASE is same as create database.

Creating Database in MySQL

Let’s create a database in MySQL using the command-line tool.

Step 1: Invoke the MySQL command-line tool

To invoke the MySQL command line, we’ve to log in to the MySQL server first. To log in as root user, type the following command in terminal and press enter. You will be asked for your password. Enter your password and press enter, if it is correct the mysql> prompt will appear, via which you will be able to issue SQL statements and view the results.

shell> mysql -u root -p

Step 2: Creating a MySQL Database

Now, execute the following command to create the database named demo.

mysql> CREATE DATABASE demo;

If the database created successfully you’ll see the output something like this:

Query OK, 1 row affected (0.03 sec)

If you try to create a database that is already exists you’ll get an error message. To avoid this in MySQL you can use an optional clause IF NOT EXISTS as follow:

mysql> CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS demo;

Step 3: Selecting the Database

Type the following command and press enter. You will see the output “Database changed”. Now our demo database is selected as default database for all future operations.

mysql> USE demo;

Tip: If you want to see a list of existing databases on the MySQL server, you can execute the statement SHOW DATABASES; on the command line.