Creating tables (permanent, temporary, transient) in Snowflake - Try It Yourself

Creating tables (permanent, temporary, transient)

📖 Scenario: You are working with Snowflake, a cloud data platform. You need to create different types of tables to store data with different lifetimes and behaviors.Permanent tables keep data until you delete them. Temporary tables exist only during your session. Transient tables keep data but do not have fail-safe recovery.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to create permanent, temporary, and transient tables in Snowflake with the correct syntax and options.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a permanent table named employees_permanent with columns id (integer) and name (string).

Create a temporary table named employees_temp with the same columns.

Create a transient table named employees_transient with the same columns.

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Creating different types of tables helps manage data lifecycle and storage costs in cloud data platforms like Snowflake.

💼 Career

Knowing how to create and manage permanent, temporary, and transient tables is essential for data engineers and cloud database administrators.

1

Create a permanent table

Write a SQL statement to create a permanent table called employees_permanent with columns id as integer and name as string (VARCHAR).

Snowflake

-- Your code here to create the permanent table employees_permanent

Hint

Use CREATE TABLE followed by the table name and column definitions.

2

Create a temporary table

Write a SQL statement to create a temporary table called employees_temp with columns id as integer and name as string (VARCHAR). Use the TEMPORARY keyword.

Snowflake

CREATE TABLE employees_permanent (
    id INTEGER,
    name VARCHAR
);
-- Your code here to create the temporary table employees_temp

Hint

Use CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE to create a temporary table.

3

Create a transient table

Write a SQL statement to create a transient table called employees_transient with columns id as integer and name as string (VARCHAR). Use the TRANSIENT keyword.

Snowflake

CREATE TABLE employees_permanent (
    id INTEGER,
    name VARCHAR
);

CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE employees_temp (
    id INTEGER,
    name VARCHAR
);
-- Your code here to create the transient table employees_transient

Hint

Use CREATE TRANSIENT TABLE to create a transient table.

4

Add a comment to the permanent table

Write a SQL statement to add a comment 'Permanent employee data' to the employees_permanent table using the COMMENT clause.

Snowflake

CREATE TABLE employees_permanent (
    id INTEGER,
    name VARCHAR
);

CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE employees_temp (
    id INTEGER,
    name VARCHAR
);

CREATE TRANSIENT TABLE employees_transient (
    id INTEGER,
    name VARCHAR
);
-- Your code here to add a comment to employees_permanent

Hint

Add COMMENT = 'Permanent employee data' after the column definitions in the CREATE TABLE statement.

Practice

1. Which type of table in Snowflake is best suited for storing data that needs to persist permanently and be recoverable after accidental deletion?

easy

A. TEMPORARY table

B. PERMANENT table

C. TRANSIENT table

D. EXTERNAL table

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand table types in Snowflake

   Permanent tables store data permanently and include fail-safe for recovery.

2. Step 2: Compare with other table types

   Temporary tables last only for the session, and transient tables do not have fail-safe, so they are not recoverable after deletion.

3. Final Answer:

   PERMANENT table -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   Permanent = long-term, recoverable [OK]

Hint: Permanent tables keep data safe and recoverable long-term [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing transient with permanent tables
• Thinking temporary tables persist beyond session
• Assuming transient tables have fail-safe

2. Which of the following is the correct syntax to create a temporary table named session_data with columns id INT and value STRING in Snowflake?

easy

A. CREATE TABLE session_data TEMPORARY (id INT, value STRING);

B. CREATE TABLE TEMP session_data (id INT, value STRING);

C. CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE session_data (id INT, value STRING);

D. CREATE TEMP session_data (id INT, value STRING);

Solution

1. Step 1: Recall Snowflake syntax for temporary tables

   The correct keyword is TEMPORARY placed right after CREATE and before TABLE.

2. Step 2: Check each option's syntax

   CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE session_data (id INT, value STRING); uses correct order and keywords. Options A, B, and C use incorrect or unsupported syntax.

3. Final Answer:

   CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE session_data (id INT, value STRING); -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE = correct syntax [OK]

Hint: Use CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE for temporary tables [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using TEMP instead of TEMPORARY
• Placing TEMPORARY after table name
• Omitting TABLE keyword

3. What will be the result of the following Snowflake SQL commands?

CREATE TRANSIENT TABLE temp_cost (item STRING, price NUMBER);
INSERT INTO temp_cost VALUES ('apple', 1.2);
SELECT * FROM temp_cost;

medium

A. Syntax error due to TRANSIENT keyword

B. Error: Table does not exist

C. Empty result set

D. [{'item': 'apple', 'price': 1.2}]

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand transient table behavior

   Transient tables behave like permanent tables but without fail-safe. They accept inserts and can be queried normally.

2. Step 2: Analyze the commands

   The table is created, a row is inserted, and then selected. No errors or empty results expected.

3. Final Answer:

   [{'item': 'apple', 'price': 1.2}] -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   Transient tables store and return inserted data [OK]

Hint: Transient tables act like permanent but no fail-safe [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Thinking transient tables cannot store data
• Expecting syntax error with TRANSIENT keyword
• Assuming transient tables auto-delete data immediately

4. You run the following command in Snowflake:

CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE temp_users (user_id INT, name STRING);

Later, you try to query temp_users in a new session but get an error. What is the most likely cause?

medium

A. Temporary tables only exist during the session they were created in

B. Syntax error in table creation

C. Transient tables cannot be queried

D. Table was dropped manually

Solution

1. Step 1: Recall temporary table lifecycle

   Temporary tables exist only for the duration of the session that created them.

2. Step 2: Understand session behavior

   Querying in a new session fails because the temporary table no longer exists.

3. Final Answer:

   Temporary tables only exist during the session they were created in -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Temporary = session-only lifespan [OK]

Hint: Temp tables vanish after session ends [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Assuming temp tables persist across sessions
• Confusing transient with temporary tables
• Ignoring session scope of temporary tables

5. You want to create a table in Snowflake that stores temporary data across sessions but does not use fail-safe to reduce storage costs. Which table type and creation statement should you use?

hard

A. CREATE TRANSIENT TABLE cost_savings (id INT, amount NUMBER);

B. CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE cost_savings (id INT, amount NUMBER);

C. CREATE PERMANENT TABLE cost_savings (id INT, amount NUMBER);

D. CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE cost_savings (id INT, amount NUMBER);

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify table types and fail-safe behavior

   Transient tables do not have fail-safe, reducing storage costs but keep data beyond session.

2. Step 2: Match requirement with table type

   Temporary tables are session-only, permanent tables have fail-safe, external tables are for external data.

3. Final Answer:

   CREATE TRANSIENT TABLE cost_savings (id INT, amount NUMBER); -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Transient = no fail-safe, cost-saving [OK]

Hint: Use transient tables to save costs without fail-safe [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Choosing temporary tables which expire after session
• Using permanent tables with fail-safe enabled
• Confusing external tables with transient