Re: inserting columns with values from a different table

On Sun, 8 Jul 2001, Alexander Turchin wrote:

> This may be (hopefully) a very basic question, but I (admittedly, a
> pgsql newbie) cannot seem to be able to find an answer to it :(
>
> I have in my database tables, say A, B, and C, all of them referring to
> the same objects (e.g. table A contains customer's name, table B his/her
> purchases, and table C his/her address). I want to create a "master"
> table D whose rows would have some values from table A, some from B, and
> some from C (e.g. name, last purchase, and address). I know I can do an
> INSERT with SELECT - but that will only allow me to insert values from
> one table, not from all three (or more). Is there any way to do this in
> PostgreSQL?
>
> I do realize that I could likely imitate everything I need from a master
> table by having many different tables and executing [more or less]
> complicated queries, but having a "master" table would greatly simplify
> my life and avoid multiple potential mistakes when constructing those
> queries...

You may want to check out CREATE VIEW: from within psql:

\h create view
Command:     CREATE VIEW
Description: Constructs a virtual table
Syntax:
CREATE VIEW view AS SELECT query

More information is available in the documentation.

    -frank