SQL CREATE VIEW Statement

The CREATE VIEW statement in SQL creates a view. A view is a virtual table based on the result set of a query. It doesn't store data itself; instead, it provides a customized way to access data from one or more underlying tables.

CREATE VIEW: Definition and Usage

Views are incredibly useful for simplifying complex queries, providing customized perspectives on your data, or for security reasons (restricting access to certain columns or rows). They act like stored queries that you can reuse. When you query a view, SQL generates the result set dynamically based on the underlying query definition.

Syntax

CREATE VIEW view_name AS
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;
      

Example: Creating a View

This creates a view named 'Brazil Customers' showing customer names and contact names for customers from Brazil. (Assumes a 'Customers' table exists with 'CustomerName', 'ContactName', and 'Country' columns.)

CREATE VIEW [Brazil Customers] AS
SELECT CustomerName, ContactName
FROM Customers
WHERE Country = 'Brazil';
      

Querying the View

Once created, you can query the view just like a regular table:

SELECT * FROM [Brazil Customers];
      

CustomerName | ContactName
--------------------------
(Brazilian customers' names and contact names will be displayed here)