title	summary	toc
CREATE DATABASE	The CREATE DATABASE statement creates a new CockroachDB database.	false

The CREATE DATABASE statement creates a new CockroachDB database.

Required Privileges

Only the root user can create databases.

Synopsis

{% include sql/diagrams/create_database.html %}

Parameter	Description
`IF NOT EXISTS`	Create a new database only if a database of the same name does not already exist; if one does exist, do not return an error.
`name`	The name of the database to create, which must be unique and follow these identifier rules.
`encoding`	The `CREATE DATABASE` statement accepts an optional `ENCODING` clause for compatibility with PostgreSQL, but `UTF-8` is the only supported encoding. The aliases `UTF8` and `UNICODE` are also accepted. Values should be enclosed in single quotes and are case insensitive. Example: `CREATE DATABASE bank ENCODING = 'UTF-8'`.

> CREATE DATABASE bank;

> SHOW DATABASES;

+----------+
| Database |
+----------+
| bank     |
| system   |
+----------+

> SHOW DATABASES;

+----------+
| Database |
+----------+
| bank     |
| system   |
+----------+

> CREATE DATABASE bank;

pq: database "bank" already exists

> SHOW DATABASES;
+----------+
| Database |
+----------+
| bank     |
| system   |
+----------+

> CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS bank;

SQL does not generate an error, but instead responds CREATE DATABASE even though a new database wasn't created.

> SHOW DATABASES;

+----------+
| Database |
+----------+
| bank     |
| system   |
+----------+