Help tables

Usually, if we refer to tables, we mean heap tables, although there are other types
as well.
A heap table is created like this:
create table t (

a number,

b varchar2(10)

It is possible to create the constraints together with the create statement. As a

foreign key references a known type, it is not necessary to specify the foreign key's
column type.
create table orders (

order_id number primary key

order_dt date,

cust_id references customers

A primary key needs to have an associated (unique) index. It is possible to specify

on what tablespace this index is going to be created:
create table orders (

order_id number,

order_dt date,

cust_id references customer

constraint pk_orders (order_id) using index tablespace ts_idx

Index organized tables (IOT)

create table iot_ (

a number,

b varchar2(10),

constraint pk_iot_ primary key (a, b)

)
 organization index;

Global temporary tables

The following example shows the difference for redo generated when using global
temporary tables and "ordinary" heap tables. It uses the redo_diff package.
create global temporary table gtt_ (

x_ varchar2(100)

) on commit delete rows;

create table t_ (

x_ varchar2(100)

);

exec redo_diff.diff_it;

declare

i number;

begin

for i in 1 .. 1000 loop

insert into gtt_ values(dbms_random.string('a',99));

end loop;

end;

exec redo_diff.diff_it;

declare

i number;

begin
 for i in 1 .. 1000 loop

insert into t_ values(dbms_random.string('a',99));

end loop;

end;

exec redo_diff.diff_it;

Organization external
The following create table statement creates an external table.
create table (....)

organization external (

type oracle_loader

default directory some_dir

access parameters (

records delimited by newline

fields terminated by ','

missing field are values null

location ('some_file.csv')

reject limit unlimited;

Nested tables
create or replace type item as object (

item_id Number ( 6 ),

descr varchar2(30 ),

quant Number ( 4,2)

);
 /

create or replace type items as table of item;

create table bag_with_items (

bag_id number(7) primary key,

bag_name varchar2(30) not null,

the_items_in_the_bag items

nested table the_items_in_the_bag store as bag_items_nt;

Adding a unique constraint for item_id:

alter table bag_items_nt add constraint uq_item_id unique(item_id);

of XMLType
create table table_name of xmltype;

create table table_name of xmltype XMLSchema "some_url" element

"root-element";

create table table_name (columns..., xml_doc) XMLType xmltype column

xml_doc element "root-element";

Creates a table for XML DB.

Create table ... as select

This is one of the few statements that can make use of the nologging option.
In fact, if the database is running noarchive log, the create table .. as select
statement is nologging..

Mintrans and Maxtrans

See mintrans and maxtrans

pctfree and pctused

See pctfree and pctused

Displaying a tables definition

In SQL*Plus, a table's definition can be displayed with describe. A more verbose (and
more complete) output can be optained with dbms_metadata.get_ddl.
See also On a better describe.