CREATE FOREIGN TABLE SQL Statement | Teradata Vantage - CREATE FOREIGN TABLE - Teradata Vantage - Analytics Database

SQL Data Definition Language Syntax and Examples

Deployment
VantageCloud
VantageCore
Edition
VMware
Enterprise
IntelliFlex
Product
Analytics Database
Teradata Vantage
Release Number
17.20
Published
June 2022
ft:locale
en-US
ft:lastEdition
2025-11-06
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mdr1472255012272
lifecycle
latest
Product Category
Teradata Vantage™

Foreign tables enable Vantage to access data in external object store, such as semi-structured and unstructured data in Amazon S3, Azure Blob storage, and Google Cloud Storage. In-database integration of this data allows data scientists and analysts to read and process this data with Vantage, using standard SQL. You can join external data to relational data in Vantage, and process it using built-in Vantage analytics and functions.

The external data can be in various standard data formats, such as JSON, CSV, and Parquet.

Creating a foreign table requires specifying the location of the data. You must also specify the credentials, except if you are using AWS IAM.

CREATE FOREIGN TABLE creates a foreign table with a PARTITION BY clause even if you do not specify one. The PARTITION BY clause determines the table's virtual columns. HELP TABLE output identifies virtual columns.

ANSI Compliance

This statement is a Teradata extension to the ANSI SQL:2011 standard.

Required Privileges

You must have the CREATE TABLE privilege on the database or user in which the table is created.

Privileges Granted Automatically

The creator receives the following privileges WITH GRANT OPTION on the newly created table:
  • DROP TABLE
  • SELECT
For more information about database privileges, see Teradata Vantage™ - SQL Data Control Language, B035-1149.