CREATE TABLESPACE(7) PostgreSQL 16.7 Documentation CREATE TABLESPACE(7)
NAME
CREATE_TABLESPACE - define a new tablespace
SYNOPSIS
CREATE TABLESPACE tablespace_name
[ OWNER { new_owner | CURRENT_ROLE | CURRENT_USER | SESSION_USER } ]
LOCATION 'directory'
[ WITH ( tablespace_option = value [, ... ] ) ]
DESCRIPTION
CREATE TABLESPACE registers a new cluster-wide tablespace. The
tablespace name must be distinct from the name of any existing
tablespace in the database cluster.
A tablespace allows superusers to define an alternative location on the
file system where the data files containing database objects (such as
tables and indexes) can reside.
A user with appropriate privileges can pass tablespace_name to CREATE
DATABASE, CREATE TABLE, CREATE INDEX or ADD CONSTRAINT to have the data
files for these objects stored within the specified tablespace.
Warning
A tablespace cannot be used independently of the cluster in which
it is defined; see Section 23.6.
PARAMETERS
tablespace_name
The name of a tablespace to be created. The name cannot begin with
pg_, as such names are reserved for system tablespaces.
user_name
The name of the user who will own the tablespace. If omitted,
defaults to the user executing the command. Only superusers can
create tablespaces, but they can assign ownership of tablespaces to
non-superusers.
directory
The directory that will be used for the tablespace. The directory
must exist (CREATE TABLESPACE will not create it), should be empty,
and must be owned by the PostgreSQL system user. The directory must
be specified by an absolute path name.
tablespace_option
A tablespace parameter to be set or reset. Currently, the only
available parameters are seq_page_cost, random_page_cost,
effective_io_concurrency and maintenance_io_concurrency. Setting
these values for a particular tablespace will override the
planner's usual estimate of the cost of reading pages from tables
in that tablespace, and the executor's prefetching behavior, as
established by the configuration parameters of the same name (see
seq_page_cost, random_page_cost, effective_io_concurrency,
maintenance_io_concurrency). This may be useful if one tablespace
is located on a disk which is faster or slower than the remainder
of the I/O subsystem.
NOTES
CREATE TABLESPACE cannot be executed inside a transaction block.
EXAMPLES
To create a tablespace dbspace at file system location /data/dbs, first
create the directory using operating system facilities and set the
correct ownership:
mkdir /data/dbs
chown postgres:postgres /data/dbs
Then issue the tablespace creation command inside PostgreSQL:
CREATE TABLESPACE dbspace LOCATION '/data/dbs';
To create a tablespace owned by a different database user, use a
command like this:
CREATE TABLESPACE indexspace OWNER genevieve LOCATION '/data/indexes';
COMPATIBILITY
CREATE TABLESPACE is a PostgreSQL extension.
SEE ALSO
CREATE DATABASE (CREATE_DATABASE(7)), CREATE TABLE (CREATE_TABLE(7)),
CREATE INDEX (CREATE_INDEX(7)), DROP TABLESPACE (DROP_TABLESPACE(7)),
ALTER TABLESPACE (ALTER_TABLESPACE(7))
PostgreSQL 16.7 2025 CREATE TABLESPACE(7)
postgresql 16.7 - Generated Sat Mar 22 10:41:31 CDT 2025