[sql] How to get table list in database, using MS SQL 2008?

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.

This query will get you all the tables in the database

USE [DatabaseName];

SELECT * FROM information_schema.tables;

Answering the question in your title, you can query sys.tables or sys.objects where type = 'U' to check for the existence of a table. You can also use OBJECT_ID('table_name', 'U'). If it returns a non-null value then the table exists:

IF (OBJECT_ID('dbo.My_Table', 'U') IS NULL)
BEGIN
    CREATE TABLE dbo.My_Table (...)
END

You can do the same for databases with DB_ID():

IF (DB_ID('My_Database') IS NULL)
BEGIN
    CREATE DATABASE My_Database
END

If you want to create the database and then start using it, that needs to be done in separate batches. I don't know the specifics of your case, but there shouldn't be many cases where this isn't possible. In a SQL script you can use GO statements. In an application it's easy enough to send across a new command after the database is created.

The only place that you might have an issue is if you were trying to do this in a stored procedure and creating databases on the fly like that is usually a bad idea.

If you really need to do this in one batch, you can get around the issue by using EXEC to get around the parsing error of the database not existing:

CREATE DATABASE Test_DB2

IF (OBJECT_ID('Test_DB2.dbo.My_Table', 'U') IS NULL)
BEGIN
    EXEC('CREATE TABLE Test_DB2.dbo.My_Table (my_id INT)')
END

EDIT: As others have suggested, the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES system view is probably preferable since it is supposedly a standard going forward and possibly between RDBMSs.