You can use the CHARACTER SET clause to specify the character set for the CHAR, VARCHAR and BLOB (text subtype) types. If the character set is not specified, the default character set of the database — at time of the creation of the column — will be used.

If the database has no default character set, the NONE character set is applied. Data in any encoding can be added to such a column, but it is not possible to add this data to a column with a different encoding. No transliteration is performed between the source and destination encodings, which may result in errors.

The optional COLLATE clause allows you to specify the collation for character data types, including BLOB SUB_TYPE TEXT. If no collation is specified, the default collation for the specified character set — at time of the creation of the column — is applied.

The optional DEFAULT clause allows you to specify the default value for the table column. This value will be added to the column when an INSERT statement is executed and that column was omitted from the INSERT command or DEFAULT was used instead of a value expression. The default value will also be used in UPDATE when DEFAULT is used instead of a value expression.

The default value can be a literal of a compatible type, a context variable that is type-compatible with the data type of the column, or NULL, if the column allows it. If no default value is explicitly specified, NULL is implied.

An expression cannot be used as a default value.

To define a column, you can use a previously defined domain. If the definition of a column is based on a domain, it may contain a new default value, additional CHECK constraints, and a COLLATE clause that will override the values specified in the domain definition. The definition of such a column may contain additional column constraints (for instance, NOT NULL), if the domain does not have it.

Identity columns are defined using the GENERATED {ALWAYS | BY DEFAULT} AS IDENTITY clause. The identity column is a column associated with an internal sequence. Its value is set automatically every time it is not specified in the INSERT statement, or when the column value is specified as DEFAULT.

Rules

• The data type of an identity column must be an exact number type with zero scale. Allowed types are SMALLINT, INTEGER, BIGINT, NUMERIC(p[,0]) and DECIMAL(p[,0]) with p <= 18.

  • The INT128 type and numeric types with a precision higher than 18 are not supported.

• An identity column cannot have a DEFAULT or COMPUTED value.

• An identity column can be altered to become a regular column.

• A regular column cannot be altered to become an identity column.

• Identity columns are implicitly NOT NULL (non-nullable), and cannot be made nullable.

• Uniqueness is not enforced automatically. A UNIQUE or PRIMARY KEY constraint is required to guarantee uniqueness.

• The use of other methods of generating key values for identity columns, e.g. by trigger-generator code or by allowing users to change or add them, is discouraged to avoid unexpected key violations.

• The INCREMENT value cannot be zero (0).

Computed columns can be defined with the COMPUTED [BY] or GENERATED ALWAYS AS clause (the SQL standard alternative to COMPUTED [BY]). Specifying the data type is optional; if not specified, the appropriate type will be derived from the expression.

If the data type is explicitly specified for a calculated field, the calculation result is converted to the specified type. This means, for instance, that the result of a numeric expression could be converted to a string.

In a query that selects a computed column, the expression is evaluated for each row of the selected data.

• If the column is to be an array, the base type can be any SQL data type except BLOB and array.

• The dimensions of the array are specified between square brackets.

• For each array dimension, one or two integer numbers define the lower and upper boundaries of its index range:

  • By default, arrays are 1-based. The lower boundary is implicit and only the upper boundary need be specified. A single number smaller than 1 defines the range num…​1 and a number greater than 1 defines the range 1…​num.

  • Two numbers separated by a colon (:) and optional whitespace, the second greater than the first, can be used to define the range explicitly. One or both boundaries can be less than zero, as long as the upper boundary is greater than the lower.

• When the array has multiple dimensions, the range definitions for each dimension must be separated by commas and optional whitespace.

• Subscripts are validated only if an array actually exists. It means that no error messages regarding invalid subscripts will be returned if selecting a specific element returns nothing or if an array field is NULL.

Five types of constraints can be specified. They are:

• Primary key (PRIMARY KEY)

• Unique key (UNIQUE)

• Foreign key (REFERENCES)

• CHECK constraint (CHECK)

• NOT NULL constraint (NOT NULL)

Constraints can be specified at column level (column constraints) or at table level (table constraints). Table-level constraints are required when keys (unique constraint, primary key, foreign key) consist of multiple columns and when a CHECK constraint involves other columns in the row besides the column being defined. The NOT NULL constraint can only be specified as a column constraint. Syntax for some types of constraint may differ slightly according to whether the constraint is defined at the column or table level.

• A column-level constraint is specified during a column definition, after all column attributes except COLLATION are specified, and can involve only the column specified in that definition

• A table-level constraints can only be specified after the definitions of the columns used in the constraint.

• Table-level constraints are a more flexible way to set constraints, since they can cater for constraints involving multiple columns

• You can mix column-level and table-level constraints in the same CREATE TABLE statement

The system automatically creates the corresponding index for a primary key (PRIMARY KEY), a unique key (UNIQUE), and a foreign key (REFERENCES for a column-level constraint, FOREIGN KEY REFERENCES for table-level).

  |RECREATE TABLE t( x int, y int, z int, unique(x,y,z));
  |INSERT INTO t values( NULL, 1, 1 );
  |INSERT INTO t values( NULL, NULL, 1 );
  |INSERT INTO t values( NULL, NULL, NULL );
  |INSERT INTO t values( NULL, NULL, NULL ); -- Permitted
  |INSERT INTO t values( NULL, NULL, 1 );    -- Not permitted

  |... ,
  |  ARTIFACT_ID INTEGER REFERENCES COLLECTION (ARTIFACT_ID),

  |...
  |  CONSTRAINT FK_ARTSOURCE FOREIGN KEY(DEALER_ID, COUNTRY)
  |    REFERENCES DEALER (DEALER_ID, COUNTRY),

  |...
  |  CONSTRAINT FK_ORDERS_CUST
  |    FOREIGN KEY (CUSTOMER) REFERENCES CUSTOMERS (ID)
  |      ON UPDATE CASCADE ON DELETE SET NULL

  |CREATE TABLE PLACES (
  |  ...
  |  LAT DECIMAL(9, 6) CHECK (ABS(LAT) <=  90),
  |  LON DECIMAL(9, 6) CHECK (ABS(LON) <= 180),
  |  ...
  |  CONSTRAINT CHK_POLES CHECK (ABS(LAT) < 90 OR LON = 0)
  |);

The SQL SECURITY clause specifies the security context for executing functions referenced in computed columns, and check constraints, and the default context used for triggers fired for this table. When SQL Security is not specified, the default value of the database is applied at runtime.

See also SQL Security in chapter Security.

When the database has been configured using ALTER DATABASE INCLUDE ALL TO PUBLICATION, new tables will automatically be added for publication, unless overridden using the DISABLE PUBLICATION clause.

If the database has not been configured for INCLUDE ALL (or has later been reconfigured using ALTER DATABASE EXCLUDE ALL FROM PUBLICATION), new tables will not automatically be added for publication. To include tables for publication, the ENABLE PUBLICATION clause must be used.

The CREATE TABLE statement can be executed by:

• Administrators

• Users with the CREATE TABLE privilege

The user executing the CREATE TABLE statement becomes the owner of the table.

1. Creating the COUNTRY table with the primary key specified as a column constraint.

     |CREATE TABLE COUNTRY (
     |  COUNTRY COUNTRYNAME NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
     |  CURRENCY VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL
     |);
   

2. Creating the STOCK table with the named primary key specified at the column level and the named unique key specified at the table level.

     |CREATE TABLE STOCK (
     |  MODEL     SMALLINT NOT NULL CONSTRAINT PK_STOCK PRIMARY KEY,
     |  MODELNAME CHAR(10) NOT NULL,
     |  ITEMID    INTEGER NOT NULL,
     |  CONSTRAINT MOD_UNIQUE UNIQUE (MODELNAME, ITEMID)
     |);
   

3. Creating the JOB table with a primary key constraint spanning two columns, a foreign key constraint for the COUNTRY table and a table-level CHECK constraint. The table also contains an array of 5 elements.

      |CREATE TABLE JOB (
      |  JOB_CODE        JOBCODE NOT NULL,
      |  JOB_GRADE       JOBGRADE NOT NULL,
      |  JOB_COUNTRY     COUNTRYNAME,
      |  JOB_TITLE       VARCHAR(25) NOT NULL,
      |  MIN_SALARY      NUMERIC(18, 2) DEFAULT 0 NOT NULL,
      |  MAX_SALARY      NUMERIC(18, 2) NOT NULL,
      |  JOB_REQUIREMENT BLOB SUB_TYPE 1,
      |  LANGUAGE_REQ    VARCHAR(15) [1:5],
      |  PRIMARY KEY (JOB_CODE, JOB_GRADE),
      |  FOREIGN KEY (JOB_COUNTRY) REFERENCES COUNTRY (COUNTRY)
      |  ON UPDATE CASCADE
      |  ON DELETE SET NULL,
      |  CONSTRAINT CHK_SALARY CHECK (MIN_SALARY < MAX_SALARY)
      |);
   

4. Creating the PROJECT table with primary, foreign and unique key constraints with custom index names specified with the USING clause.

      |CREATE TABLE PROJECT (
      |  PROJ_ID     PROJNO NOT NULL,
      |  PROJ_NAME   VARCHAR(20) NOT NULL UNIQUE USING DESC INDEX IDX_PROJNAME,
      |  PROJ_DESC   BLOB SUB_TYPE 1,
      |  TEAM_LEADER EMPNO,
      |  PRODUCT     PRODTYPE,
      |  CONSTRAINT PK_PROJECT PRIMARY KEY (PROJ_ID) USING INDEX IDX_PROJ_ID,
      |  FOREIGN KEY (TEAM_LEADER) REFERENCES EMPLOYEE (EMP_NO)
      |    USING INDEX IDX_LEADER
      |);
   

5. Creating a table with an identity column

      |create table objects (
      |  id integer generated by default as identity primary key,
      |  name varchar(15)
      |);
      | 
      |insert into objects (name) values ('Table');
      |insert into objects (id, name) values (10, 'Computer');
      |insert into objects (name) values ('Book');
      | 
      |select * from objects order by id;
      | 
      |          ID NAME
      |============ ===============
      |           1 Table
      |           2 Book
      |          10 Computer
   

6. Creating the SALARY_HISTORY table with two computed fields. The first one is declared according to the SQL standard, while the second one is declared according to the traditional declaration of computed fields in Firebird.

      |CREATE TABLE SALARY_HISTORY (
      |  EMP_NO         EMPNO NOT NULL,
      |  CHANGE_DATE    TIMESTAMP DEFAULT 'NOW' NOT NULL,
      |  UPDATER_ID     VARCHAR(20) NOT NULL,
      |  OLD_SALARY     SALARY NOT NULL,
      |  PERCENT_CHANGE DOUBLE PRECISION DEFAULT 0 NOT NULL,
      |  SALARY_CHANGE  GENERATED ALWAYS AS
      |    (OLD_SALARY * PERCENT_CHANGE / 100),
      |  NEW_SALARY     COMPUTED BY
      |    (OLD_SALARY + OLD_SALARY * PERCENT_CHANGE / 100)
      |);
   

7. With DEFINER set for table t, user US needs only the SELECT privilege on t. If it were set for INVOKER, the user would also need the EXECUTE privilege on function f.

      |set term ^;
      |create function f() returns int
      |as
      |begin
      |    return 3;
      |end^
      |set term ;^
      |create table t (i integer, c computed by (i + f())) SQL SECURITY DEFINER;
      |insert into t values (2);
      |grant select on table t to user us;
      | 
      |commit;
      | 
      |connect 'localhost:/tmp/7.fdb' user us password 'pas';
      |select * from t;
   

8. With DEFINER set for table tr, user US needs only the INSERT privilege on tr. If it were set for INVOKER, either the user or the trigger would also need the INSERT privilege on table t. The result would be the same if SQL SECURITY DEFINER were specified for trigger tr_ins:

      |create table tr (i integer) SQL SECURITY DEFINER;
      |create table t (i integer);
      |set term ^;
      |create trigger tr_ins for tr after insert
      |as
      |begin
      |  insert into t values (NEW.i);
      |end^
      |set term ;^
      |grant insert on table tr to user us;
      | 
      |commit;
      | 
      |connect 'localhost:/tmp/29.fdb' user us password 'pas';
      |insert into tr values(2);
   

Global temporary tables have persistent metadata, but their contents are transaction-bound (the default) or connection-bound. Every transaction or connection has its own private instance of a GTT, isolated from all the others. Instances are only created if and when the GTT is referenced. They are destroyed when the transaction ends or on disconnect. The metadata of a GTT can be modified or removed using ALTER TABLE and DROP TABLE, respectively.

Syntax

  |CREATE GLOBAL TEMPORARY TABLE tablename
  |  (<column_def> [, {<column_def> | <table_constraint>} ...])
  |  [<gtt_table_attrs>]
  | 
  |<gtt_table_attrs> ::= <gtt_table_attr> [gtt_table_attr> ...]
  | 
  |<gtt_table_attr> ::=
  |    <sql_security>
  |  | ON COMMIT {DELETE | PRESERVE} ROWS

GTTs are writable in read-only transactions. The effect is as follows:

Read-only transaction in read-write database

Writable in both ON COMMIT PRESERVE ROWS and ON COMMIT DELETE ROWS

Read-only transaction in read-only database

Writable in ON COMMIT DELETE ROWS only

  |select t.rdb$type_name
  |from rdb$relations r
  |join rdb$types t on r.rdb$relation_type = t.rdb$type
  |where t.rdb$field_name = 'RDB$RELATION_TYPE'
  |and r.rdb$relation_name = 'TABLENAME'

  |select r.rdb$relation_name, t.rdb$type_name
  |from rdb$relations r
  |join rdb$types t on r.rdb$relation_type = t.rdb$type
  |where t.rdb$field_name = 'RDB$RELATION_TYPE'
  |and coalesce (r.rdb$system_flag, 0) = 0

The optional EXTERNAL [FILE] clause specifies that the table is stored outside the database in an external text file of fixed-length records. The columns of a table stored in an external file can be of any type except BLOB or ARRAY, although for most purposes, only columns of CHAR types would be useful.

All you can do with a table stored in an external file is insert new rows (INSERT) and query the data (SELECT). Updating existing data (UPDATE) and deleting rows (DELETE) are not possible.

A file that is defined as an external table must be located on a storage device that is physically present on the machine where the Firebird server runs and, if the parameter ExternalFileAccess in the firebird.conf configuration file is Restrict, it must be in one of the directories listed there as the argument for Restrict. If the file does not exist yet, Firebird will create it on first access.

  |CREATE TABLE ext_log
  |  EXTERNAL FILE 'd:\externals\log_me.txt' (
  |  stamp CHAR (24),
  |  message CHAR(100),
  |  crlf CHAR(2) -- for a Windows context
  |);
  |COMMIT;

   |SET TERM ^;
   |CREATE TRIGGER bi_ext_log FOR ext_log
   |ACTIVE BEFORE INSERT
   |AS
   |BEGIN
   |  IF (new.stamp is NULL) then
   |    new.stamp = CAST (CURRENT_TIMESTAMP as CHAR(24));
   |  new.crlf = ASCII_CHAR(13) || ASCII_CHAR(10);
   |END ^
   |COMMIT ^
   |SET TERM ;^

  |insert into ext_log (message)
  |values('Shall I compare thee to a summer''s day?');
  |insert into ext_log (message)
  |values('Thou art more lovely and more temperate');

  |2015-10-07 15:19:03.4110Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
  |2015-10-07 15:19:58.7600Thou art more lovely and more temperate

Some changes in the structure of a table increment the metadata change counter (version count) assigned to every table. The number of metadata changes is limited to 255 for each table, or 32,000 for each view. Once the counter reaches this limit, you will not be able to make any further changes to the structure of the table or view without resetting the counter.

With the ADD clause you can add a new column or a new table constraint. The syntax for defining the column and the syntax of defining the table constraint correspond with those described for Section 5.4.1, “CREATE TABLE” statement.

The DROP colname clause deletes the specified column from the table. An attempt to drop a column will fail if anything references it. Consider the following items as sources of potential dependencies:

• column or table constraints

• indexes

• stored procedures, functions and triggers

• views

The DROP CONSTRAINT clause deletes the specified column-level or table-level constraint.

A PRIMARY KEY or UNIQUE key constraint cannot be deleted if it is referenced by a FOREIGN KEY constraint in another table. It will be necessary to drop that FOREIGN KEY constraint before attempting to drop the PRIMARY KEY or UNIQUE key constraint it references.

With the ALTER [COLUMN] clause, attributes of existing columns can be modified without the need to drop and re-add the column. Permitted modifications are:

• change the name (does not affect the metadata change counter)

• change the data type (increases the metadata change counter by one)

• change the column position in the column list of the table (does not affect the metadata change counter)

• delete the default column value (does not affect the metadata change counter)

• set a default column value or change the existing default (does not affect the metadata change counter)

• change the type and expression for a computed column (does not affect the metadata change counter)

• set the NOT NULL constraint (does not affect the metadata change counter)

• drop the NOT NULL constraint (does not affect the metadata change counter)

• change the type of an identity column, or change an identity column to a regular column

• restart an identity column

• change the increment of an identity column

The TO keyword with a new identifier renames an existing column. The table must not have an existing column that has the same identifier.

It will not be possible to change the name of a column that is included in any constraint: primary key, unique key, foreign key, or CHECK constraints of the table.

Renaming a column will also be disallowed if the column is used in any stored PSQL module or view.

The keyword TYPE changes the data type of an existing column to another, allowable type. A type change that might result in data loss will be disallowed. As an example, the number of characters in the new type for a CHAR or VARCHAR column cannot be smaller than the existing specification for it.

If the column was declared as an array, no change to its type or its number of dimensions is permitted.

The data type of a column that is involved in a foreign key, primary key or unique constraint cannot be changed at all.

The POSITION keyword changes the position of an existing column in the notional left-to-right layout of the record.

Numbering of column positions starts at 1.

• If a position less than 1 is specified, an error message will be returned

• If a position number is greater than the number of columns in the table, its new position will be adjusted silently to match the number of columns.

The optional DROP DEFAULT clause deletes the current default value for the column.

• If the column is based on a domain with a default value, the default value will revert to the domain default

• An error will be raised if an attempt is made to delete the default value of a column which has no default value or whose default value is domain-based

The optional SET DEFAULT clause sets a default value for the column. If the column already has a default value, it will be replaced with the new one. The default value applied to a column always overrides one inherited from a domain.

The SET NOT NULL clause adds a NOT NULL constraint on an existing table column. Contrary to definition in CREATE TABLE, it is not possible to specify a constraint name.

The successful addition of the NOT NULL constraint is subject to a full data validation on the table, so ensure that the column has no nulls before attempting the change.

An explicit NOT NULL constraint on domain-based column overrides domain settings. In this scenario, changing the domain to be nullable does not extend to a table column.

Dropping the NOT NULL constraint from the column if its type is a domain that also has a NOT NULL constraint, has no observable effect until the NOT NULL constraint is dropped from the domain as well.

The data type and expression underlying a computed column can be modified using a COMPUTED [BY] or GENERATED ALWAYS AS clause in the ALTER TABLE ALTER [COLUMN] statement. Conversion of a regular column to a computed one and vice versa is not permitted.

For identity columns (SET GENERATED {ALWAYS | BY DEFAULT}) it is possible to modify several properties using the following clauses.

Using the ALTER SQL SECURITY or DROP SQL SECURITY clauses, it is possible to change or drop the SQL Security property of a table. After dropping SQL Security, the default value of the database is applied at runtime.

If the SQL Security property is changed for a table, triggers that do not have an explicit SQL Security property will not see the effect of the change until the next time the trigger is loaded into the metadata cache.

To stop replicating a table, use the DISABLE PUBLICATION clause. To start replicating a table, use the ENABLE PUBLICATION clause.

The change in publication status takes effect at commit.

The following alterations are not supported:

• Changing the collation of a character type column

The ALTER TABLE statement can be executed by:

• Administrators

• The owner of the table

• Users with the ALTER ANY TABLE privilege

1. Adding the CAPITAL column to the COUNTRY table.

     |ALTER TABLE COUNTRY
     |  ADD CAPITAL VARCHAR(25);
   

2. Adding the CAPITAL column with the NOT NULL and UNIQUE constraint and deleting the CURRENCY column.

     |ALTER TABLE COUNTRY
     |  ADD CAPITAL VARCHAR(25) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
     |  DROP CURRENCY;
   

3. Adding the CHK_SALARY check constraint and a foreign key to the JOB table.

     |ALTER TABLE JOB
     |  ADD CONSTRAINT CHK_SALARY CHECK (MIN_SALARY < MAX_SALARY),
     |  ADD FOREIGN KEY (JOB_COUNTRY) REFERENCES COUNTRY (COUNTRY);
   

4. Setting default value for the MODEL field, changing the type of the ITEMID column and renaming the MODELNAME column.

     |ALTER TABLE STOCK
     |  ALTER COLUMN MODEL SET DEFAULT 1,
     |  ALTER COLUMN ITEMID TYPE BIGINT,
     |  ALTER COLUMN MODELNAME TO NAME;
   

5. Restarting the sequence of an identity column.

     |ALTER TABLE objects
     |  ALTER ID RESTART WITH 100;
   

6. Changing the computed columns NEW_SALARY and SALARY_CHANGE.

     |ALTER TABLE SALARY_HISTORY
     |  ALTER NEW_SALARY GENERATED ALWAYS AS
     |    (OLD_SALARY + OLD_SALARY * PERCENT_CHANGE / 100),
     |  ALTER SALARY_CHANGE COMPUTED BY
     |    (OLD_SALARY * PERCENT_CHANGE / 100);
   

See alsoSection 5.4.1, “CREATE TABLE”, Section 5.4.3, “DROP TABLE”, Section 5.3.1, “CREATE DOMAIN”

The DROP TABLE statement can be executed by:

• Administrators

• The owner of the table

• Users with the DROP ANY TABLE privilege

Dropping the COUNTRY table.

  |DROP TABLE COUNTRY;

See alsoSection 5.4.1, “CREATE TABLE”, Section 5.4.2, “ALTER TABLE”, Section 5.4.4, “RECREATE TABLE”

Creating or recreating the COUNTRY table.

  |RECREATE TABLE COUNTRY (
  |  COUNTRY COUNTRYNAME NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
  |  CURRENCY VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL
  |);

See alsoSection 5.4.1, “CREATE TABLE”, Section 5.4.3, “DROP TABLE”