In database management systems, a temporary table, also known as a transient table, is a table that exists for a limited duration, typically within the scope of a user session or a database transaction. Temporary tables are often used as intermediate storage for data during complex operations, such as data transformations, aggregations, or subqueries. Unlike permanent tables, temporary tables are automatically dropped or deleted when the session or transaction that created them ends.
Checking whether a temporary table exists is a common task in database programming, especially when working with complex data pipelines or when debugging code. Various database systems provide different mechanisms to check for the existence of temporary tables. In general, the approach involves querying the system catalogs or information schemas to determine if a table with a specific name exists and has the temporary attribute set.
