Assuming you know the schema name, you could always check the catalog table, 
something like
select count(*) from pg_tables where schemaname= 'foo' and tablename='bar'
If it returns, then you know a table by the name foo.bar exists. if not you can 
create it.
 -Said


Jennifer Trey wrote:
No.... I don't want to drop it ... there is valuable data in there! I only
want to create it if it doesn't already exist... likely going to happen
first time the application will run. I want to create the table then and
populate. But not the next time.

Should I just let Java throw and exception and catch it ? Write a function
for this would be optimal, although I have no idea what the correct syntax
is.

Cheers, Jen



On Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 5:58 PM, Joe Conway <m...@joeconway.com> wrote:

On 07/19/2010 09:33 AM, Jennifer Trey wrote:
I can't figure out the correct syntax...

I have this, but it just keeps complaining about the IF

IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT table_name FROM information_schema.tables where
table_name = 'post_codes')

THEN

CREATE TABLE post_codes
Probably better to do:

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS post_codes;
CREATE TABLE post_codes(...);

See:
 http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.4/interactive/sql-droptable.html

HTH,

Joe

--
Joe Conway
credativ LLC: http://www.credativ.us
Linux, PostgreSQL, and general Open Source
Training, Service, Consulting, & 24x7 Support




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