create_table.sgml

    widely ignored.  <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>'s behavior
    on this point is similar to that of several other SQL databases.
   </para>

   <para>
    The standard's distinction between global and local temporary tables
    is not in <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>, since that distinction
    depends on the concept of modules, which
    <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> does not have.
    For compatibility's sake, <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> will
    accept the <literal>GLOBAL</literal> and <literal>LOCAL</literal> keywords
    in a temporary table declaration, but they have no effect.
   </para>

   <para>
    The <literal>ON COMMIT</literal> clause for temporary tables
    also resembles the SQL standard, but has some differences.
    If the <literal>ON COMMIT</> clause is omitted, SQL specifies that the
    default behavior is <literal>ON COMMIT DELETE ROWS</>.  However, the
    default behavior in <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> is
    <literal>ON COMMIT PRESERVE ROWS</literal>.  The <literal>ON COMMIT
    DROP</literal> option does not exist in SQL.
   </para>
  </refsect2>

  <refsect2>
   <title>Column Check Constraints</title>

   <para>
    The SQL standard says that <literal>CHECK</> column constraints
    can only refer to the column they apply to; only <literal>CHECK</>
    table constraints can refer to multiple columns.
    <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> does not enforce this
    restriction; it treats column and table check constraints alike.
   </para>
  </refsect2>

  <refsect2>
   <title><literal>NULL</literal> <quote>Constraint</quote></title>

   <para>
    The <literal>NULL</> <quote>constraint</quote> (actually a
    non-constraint) is a <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
    extension to the SQL standard that is included for compatibility with some
    other database systems (and for symmetry with the <literal>NOT
    NULL</literal> constraint).  Since it is the default for any
    column, its presence is simply noise.
   </para>
  </refsect2>

  <refsect2>
   <title>Inheritance</title>

   <para>
    Multiple inheritance via the <literal>INHERITS</literal> clause is
    a <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> language extension.
    SQL:1999 and later define single inheritance using a
    different syntax and different semantics.  SQL:1999-style
    inheritance is not yet supported by
    <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>.
   </para>
  </refsect2>

  <refsect2>
   <title>Zero-column tables</title>

   <para>
    <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> allows a table of no columns
    to be created (for example, <literal>CREATE TABLE foo();</>).  This
    is an extension from the SQL standard, which does not allow zero-column
    tables.  Zero-column tables are not in themselves very useful, but
    disallowing them creates odd special cases for <command>ALTER TABLE
    DROP COLUMN</>, so it seems cleaner to ignore this spec restriction.
   </para>
  </refsect2>

  <refsect2>
   <title><literal>WITH</> clause</title>

   <para>
    The <literal>WITH</> clause is a <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
    extension; neither storage parameters nor OIDs are in the standard.
   </para>
  </refsect2>

  <refsect2>
   <title>Tablespaces</title>

   <para>
    The <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> concept of tablespaces is not
    part of the standard.  Hence, the clauses <literal>TABLESPACE</literal>
    and <literal>USING INDEX TABLESPACE</literal> are extensions.
   </para>
  </refsect2>
 </refsect1>


 <refsect1>
  <title>See Also</title>

  <simplelist type="inline">
   <member><xref linkend="sql-altertable" endterm="sql-altertable-title"></member>
   <member><xref linkend="sql-droptable" endterm="sql-droptable-title"></member>
   <member><xref linkend="sql-createtablespace" endterm="sql-createtablespace-title"></member>
  </simplelist>
 </refsect1>
</refentry>