/usr/man2/cat.l/create_domain.l.Z

NAME

       CREATE DOMAIN - define a new domain

SYNOPSIS

       CREATE DOMAIN name [AS] data_type
           [ DEFAULT expression ]
           [ constraint [ ... ] ]

       where constraint is:

       [ CONSTRAINT constraint_name ]
       { NOT NULL | NULL | CHECK (expression) }

DESCRIPTION

       CREATE  DOMAIN creates a new data domain. The user who defines a domain
       becomes its owner.

       If a schema name is given (for example, CREATE DOMAIN myschema.mydomain
       ...)  then  the domain is created in the specified schema. Otherwise it
       is created in the current schema.  The domain name must be unique among
       the types and domains existing in its schema.

       Domains  are useful for abstracting common fields between tables into a
       single location for maintenance. For example, an email  address  column
       may  be used in several tables, all with the same properties.  Define a
       domain and use that rather than setting  up  each  table's  constraints
       individually.

              Caution:  At  present,  declaring  a  function result value as a
              domain is pretty dangerous, because none of the procedural  lan-
              guages  enforce domain constraints on their results. You'll need
              to make sure that the function code  itself  respects  the  con-
              straints.  In PL/pgSQL, one possible workaround is to explicitly
              cast the result value to the domain type  when  you  return  it.
              PL/pgSQL does not enforce domain constraints for local variables
              within functions, either.

PARAMETERS

       name   The name (optionally schema-qualified) of a domain  to  be  cre-
              ated.

       data_type
              The  underlying  data type of the domain. This may include array
              specifiers.

       DEFAULT expression
              The DEFAULT clause specifies a default value for columns of  the
              domain data type. The value is any variable-free expression (but
              subqueries are not allowed).   The  data  type  of  the  default
              expression must match the data type of the domain. If no default
              value is specified, then the default value is the null value.

              The default expression will be used in any insert operation that
              does  not  specify a value for the column. If a default value is
              defined for a particular column, it overrides any default  asso-
              ciated  with  the  domain. In turn, the domain default overrides
              any default value associated with the underlying data type.

       CONSTRAINT constraint_name
              An optional name for a constraint. If not specified, the  system
              generates a name.

       NOT NULL
              Values of this domain are not allowed to be null.

       NULL   Values  of  this  domain  are  allowed  to  be null. This is the
              default.

              This clause is only intended for compatibility with  nonstandard
              SQL databases. Its use is discouraged in new applications.

       CHECK (expression)
              CHECK  clauses specify integrity constraints or tests which val-
              ues of the domain must satisfy.   Each  constraint  must  be  an
              expression  producing  a  Boolean result. It should use the name
              VALUE to refer to the value being tested.

              Currently, CHECK expressions cannot contain subqueries nor refer
              to variables other than VALUE.

EXAMPLES

       This  example  creates  the  us_postal_code data type and then uses the
       type in a table definition. A regular expression test is used to verify
       that the value looks like a valid US postal code.

       CREATE DOMAIN us_postal_code AS TEXT
       CHECK(
          VALUE ~ '^\\d{5}$'
       OR VALUE ~ '^\\d{5}-\\d{4}$'
       );

       CREATE TABLE us_snail_addy (
         address_id SERIAL NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY
       , street1 TEXT NOT NULL
       , street2 TEXT
       , street3 TEXT
       , city TEXT NOT NULL
       , postal us_postal_code NOT NULL
       );

COMPATIBILITY

       The command CREATE DOMAIN conforms to the SQL standard.

SEE ALSO

       ALTER DOMAIN [alter_domain(l)], DROP DOMAIN [drop_domain(l)]

SQL - Language Statements         2005-11-05                   CREATE DOMAIN()