Create a temporary table like a current table in SQL Server 2005/2008

Question

How do you create a temporary table exactly like a current table in a stored procedure?

Solution 1

select * into #temp_table from current_table_in_stored_procedure

#temp_table - locally temp
##temp_table - globally temp

select top 0 * into #temp_table from current_table_in_stored_procedure to have empty table

Solution 2

SELECT * INTO #t FROM table

if you want it to be empty:

SELECT * INTO #t FROM table WHERE 1 = 2

Solution 3

Alternatively you can script the existing table and change the name to the temp table name and add the create table script to the top of the rest of the script you want to run. I generally do this if it really important the temp table exactly match the structure of the real table (for instance when I am creating a fake table called #inserted to use when testing the code I intend to put into a trigger.)

Most of the time though the select into will get you what you need.

Comments

[3Dave]

This will copy the data from current_table into a #temp_table, but #temp_table will not have the same keys, identity settings, etc. Still, this is the accepted way to perform this task.

[Peter Radocchia]

@David: the temp table will inherit identity settings, but no, none of the keys or indexing. I wish I could turn it off!