## Synopsis Use the `CREATE TYPE` statement to create a new user-defined data type in a keyspace. It defines the name of the user-defined type and the names and data types for its fields. ## Syntax ### Diagram CREATETYPEIFNOTEXISTStype_name(,field_namefield_type) ### Grammar ```ebnf create_type ::= CREATE TYPE [ IF NOT EXISTS ] type_name (field_name field_type [ ',' field_name field_type ...]); ``` Where - `type_name` and `field_name` are identifiers (`type_name` may be qualified with a keyspace name). - `field_type` is a data type. ## Semantics - An error is raised if the specified `type_name` already exists in the associated keyspace unless the `IF NOT EXISTS` option is used. - Each `field_name` must each be unique (a type cannot have two fields of the same name). - Each `field_type` must be either a [non-parametric type](../#data-types) or a [frozen type](../type_frozen). ## Examples Collection types must be frozen to be used inside a user-defined type. ```sql ycqlsh:example> CREATE TYPE person(first_name TEXT, last_name TEXT, emails FROZEN>); ``` ```sql ycqlsh:example> DESCRIBE TYPE person; ``` ```output CREATE TYPE example.person ( first_name text, last_name text, emails frozen> ); ``` ```sql ycqlsh:example> CREATE TABLE employees(employee_id INT PRIMARY KEY, employee person); ``` ```sql ycqlsh:example> INSERT INTO employees(employee_id, employee) VALUES (1, {first_name : 'John', last_name : 'Doe', emails : ['jdoe@example.com']}); ``` ```sql ycqlsh:example> SELECT * FROM employees; ``` ```output employee_id | employee -------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | {first_name: 'John', last_name: 'Doe', emails: ['john.doe@yugabyte.com']} ``` ## See also - [`CREATE TABLE`](../ddl_create_table) - [`DROP TYPE`](../ddl_drop_type)