Create table variable in MySQL

They don't exist in MySQL do they? Just use a temp table:

CREATE PROCEDURE my_proc () BEGIN CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE TempTable (myid int, myfield varchar(100)); INSERT INTO TempTable SELECT tblid, tblfield FROM Table1; /* Do some more stuff .... */

From MySQL here

"You can use the TEMPORARY keyword when creating a table. A TEMPORARY table is visible only to the current connection, and is dropped automatically when the connection is closed. This means that two different connections can use the same temporary table name without conflicting with each other or with an existing non-TEMPORARY table of the same name. (The existing table is hidden until the temporary table is dropped.)"

Perhaps a temporary table will do what you want.

CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE SalesSummary (product_name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL, total_sales DECIMAL(12,2) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0.00, avg_unit_price DECIMAL(7,2) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0.00, total_units_sold INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL DEFAULT 0) ENGINE=MEMORY;INSERT INTO SalesSummary(product_name, total_sales, avg_unit_price, total_units_sold)SELECT   p.name  , SUM(oi.sales_amount)  , AVG(oi.unit_price)  , SUM(oi.quantity_sold)FROM OrderItems oiINNER JOIN Products p    ON oi.product_id = p.product_idGROUP BY p.name;/* Just output the table */SELECT * FROM SalesSummary;/* OK, get the highest selling product from the table */SELECT product_name AS "Top Seller"FROM SalesSummaryORDER BY total_sales DESCLIMIT 1;/* Explicitly destroy the table */DROP TABLE SalesSummary; 

From forge.mysql.com. See also the temporary tables piece of this article.

TO answer your question: no, MySQL does not support Table-typed variables in the same manner that SQL Server (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188927.aspx) provides. Oracle provides similar functionality but calls them Cursor types instead of table types (http://docs.oracle.com/cd/B12037_01/appdev.101/b10807/13_elems012.htm).

Depending your needs you can simulate table/cursor-typed variables in MySQL using temporary tables in a manner similar to what is provided by both Oracle and SQL Server.

However, there is an important difference between the temporary table approach and the table/cursor-typed variable approach and it has a lot of performance implications (this is the reason why Oracle and SQL Server provide this functionality over and above what is provided with temporary tables).

Specifically: table/cursor-typed variables allow the client to collate multiple rows of data on the client side and send them up to the server as input to a stored procedure or prepared statement. What this eliminates is the overhead of sending up each individual row and instead pay that overhead once for a batch of rows. This can have a significant impact on overall performance when you are trying to import larger quantities of data.

A possible work-around:

What you may want to try is creating a temporary table and then using a LOAD DATA (http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/load-data.html) command to stream the data into the temporary table. You could then pass them name of the temporary table into your stored procedure. This will still result in two calls to the database server, but if you are moving enough rows there may be a savings there. Of course, this is really only beneficial if you are doing some kind of logic inside the stored procedure as you update the target table. If not, you may just want to LOAD DATA directly into the target table.