createTable

The createTable Change Type creates a table.

Uses

You can typically use the createTable Change Type when you want to create a table in your changelog file and then deploy it to your database. It can include columns and another values listed in this documentation.

Running the createTable Change Type

To run this Change Type, follow these steps:

  1. Add the Change Type to your changeset, as shown in the examples on this page.
  2. Specify any required attributes. Use the table on this page to see which ones your database requires.
  3. Deploy your changeset by running the update command:
    4. liquibase update

Now, you should see a new table.

Running the createTable Change Type with dynamic values

If you want to set and dynamically pass a specific attribute in your changelog, you can add ${your-attribute} to one or more of your changesets, and then run those changesets as shown in the following examples:

<changeSet id="1" author="liquibase">
    <createTable tableName="department">
        <column name="id" type="int">
            <constraints primaryKey="true"/>
        </column>
        <column name="dept" type="varchar(${dep.size})">
            <constraints nullable="false"/>
        </column>
        <column name="emp_id" type="int">
            <constraints nullable="false"/>
        </column>
    </createTable>
</changeSet>
liquibase -Ddep.size=50 update
<changeSet id="2" author="liquibase">
    <createTable catalogName="department2"
            remarks="A String"
            schemaName="public"
            tableName="person"
            tablespace="${tablespace}">
        <column name="address" type="varchar(255)"/>
    </createTable>
</changeSet>
liquibase -Dtablespace='tablespaceQA' update

Note: For more information, see Substituting Properties in Changelogs.

Available attributes

Name Description Required for Supports
catalogName

Name of the catalog

 all
ifNotExists

If true, creates the table only if it does not already exist. Appends IF NOT EXISTS syntax to SQL query. Liquibase 4.26.0+

   asany, cockroachdb, db2, db2z, derby, edb, h2, hsqldb, informix, ingres, mariadb, mssql, mysql, postgresql, sqlite, sybase
remarks

A short descriptive comment

 all
rowDependencies

Liquibase 4.29.0+. In an Oracle database, specifies whether to create the table with row-level dependency tracking. If true, appends ROWDEPENDENCIES to the SQL statement deployed by Liquibase. Default: false.

   oracle
schemaName

Name of the schema

 all
tableName

Name of the table

 all all
tablespace Name of the tablespace to use to create the table in all
tableType

Liquibase 4.19.0+. Allows users to define tables with modifiers of the format: CREATE [options] TABLE, where tableType indicates the [options]. For example, if tableType=TEMPORARY, then the SQL Liquibase generates becomes CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE.

   h2, hana, oracle, mariadb, mysql, postgresql, snowflake

Nested tags

Name Description Required for Supports Multiple allowed
column

Column definitions.

Note: YAML and JSON changelogs using the column tag must nest it within a columns tag.

 all all yes

Examples

--liquibase formatted sql

--changeset liquibase-docs:createTable-example
CREATE  TABLE  department.person  (address  VARCHAR(255)  NULL)  COMMENT='A String';
ALTER  TABLE  department.person  COMMENT  =  'A String';
databaseChangeLog:
-  changeSet:
    id:  createTable-example
    author:  liquibase-docs
    changes:
    -  createTable:
        catalogName:  department
        columns:
        -  column:
            name:  address
            type:  varchar(255)
        remarks:  A String
        schemaName:  public
        tableName:  person
        tablespace:  A String
{
    "databaseChangeLog": [
        {
            "changeSet": {
                "id": "createTable-example",
                "author": "liquibase-docs",
                "changes": [
                    {
                        "createTable": {
                            "catalogName": "department",
                            "columns": [
                                {
                                    "column": {
                                        "name": "address",
                                        "type": "varchar(255)"
                                    }
                                }
                            ],
                            "remarks": "A String",
                            "schemaName": "public",
                            "tableName": "person",
                            "tablespace": "A String"
                        }
                    }
                ]
            }
        }
    ]
}
<databaseChangeLog
    xmlns="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:ext="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog-ext"
    xmlns:pro="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-latest.xsd
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog-ext
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-ext.xsd
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro/liquibase-pro-latest.xsd">

    <changeSet  author="liquibase-docs"  id="createTable-example">
        <createTable catalogName="department"
              remarks="A String"
              schemaName="public"
              tableName="person"
              tablespace="A String">
            <column  name="address"  type="varchar(255)"/>
        </createTable>
  </changeSet>

</databaseChangeLog>

Database support

Database Notes Auto Rollback
DB2/LUW Supported Yes
DB2/z Supported Yes
Derby Supported Yes
Firebird Supported Yes
Google BigQuery Supported Yes
H2 Supported Yes
HyperSQL Supported Yes
INGRES Supported Yes
Informix Supported Yes
MariaDB Supported Yes
MySQL Supported Yes
Oracle Supported Yes
PostgreSQL Supported Yes
Snowflake Supported Yes
SQL Server Supported Yes
SQLite Supported Yes
Sybase Supported Yes
Sybase Anywhere Supported Yes