15.1.20.3 CREATE TABLE ... LIKE Statement

Use CREATE TABLE ... LIKE to create an empty table based on the definition of another table, including any column attributes and indexes defined in the original table:

CREATE TABLE new_tbl LIKE orig_tbl;

The copy is created using the same version of the table storage format as the original table. The SELECT privilege is required on the original table.

LIKE works only for base tables, not for views.

Important

You cannot execute CREATE TABLE or CREATE TABLE ... LIKE while a LOCK TABLES statement is in effect.

CREATE TABLE ... LIKE makes the same checks as CREATE TABLE. This means that if the current SQL mode is different from the mode in effect when the original table was created, the table definition might be considered invalid for the new mode and cause the statement to fail.

For CREATE TABLE ... LIKE, the destination table preserves generated column information from the original table.

For CREATE TABLE ... LIKE, the destination table preserves expression default values from the original table.

For CREATE TABLE ... LIKE, the destination table preserves CHECK constraints from the original table, except that all the constraint names are generated.

CREATE TABLE ... LIKE does not preserve any DATA DIRECTORY or INDEX DIRECTORY table options that were specified for the original table, or any foreign key definitions.

If the original table is a TEMPORARY table, CREATE TABLE ... LIKE does not preserve TEMPORARY. To create a TEMPORARY destination table, use CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE ... LIKE.

Tables created in the mysql tablespace, the InnoDB system tablespace (innodb_system), or general tablespaces include a TABLESPACE attribute in the table definition, which defines the tablespace where the table resides. Due to a temporary regression, CREATE TABLE ... LIKE preserves the TABLESPACE attribute and creates the table in the defined tablespace regardless of the innodb_file_per_table setting. To avoid the TABLESPACE attribute when creating an empty table based on the definition of such a table, use this syntax instead:

CREATE TABLE new_tbl SELECT * FROM orig_tbl LIMIT 0;

CREATE TABLE ... LIKE operations apply all ENGINE_ATTRIBUTE and SECONDARY_ENGINE_ATTRIBUTE values to the new table.