Question

I want to verify if a table exists in a database, and if it doesn’t exist, to create it.
How can I get a list of all the tables in the current database?

I could get the database list with a SELECT like this:

SELECT * FROM sys.databases

What’s left is to create the table if it doesn’t exist.

I also tried to create the tables at the same time with the database like this:

if not exists(select * from sys.databases where name = 'db')
begin 
    create database [db]
    use [db];
    create table [test] (
         Time datetime,
         Message varchar(1024) )
    end

But it gives me error on the ‘use’ line, saying that ‘db’ doesn’t exist. This time, I will try to do this in 2 different commands.

Answer 1

This should give you a list of all the tables in your database

SELECT Distinct TABLE_NAME FROM information_schema.TABLES

So you can use it similar to your database check.

If NOT EXISTS(SELECT Distinct TABLE_NAME FROM information_schema.TABLES Where TABLE_NAME = 'Your_Table')
BEGIN
    --CREATE TABLE Your_Table
END
GO