A view is a virtual table. A view consists of rows and columns just like a table. The difference between a view and a table is that views are definitions built on top of other tables (or views) and do not hold data themselves. If data is changing in the underlying table the same change is reflected in the view. A view can be built on top of a single table or multiple tables. It can also be built on top of another view. In the SQL Create View page we will see how a view can be built. Views offer the following advantages: 1. Ease of use : A view hides the complexity of the database tables from end users. Essentially we can think of views as a layer of abstraction on top of the database tables. 2. Space savings : Views takes very little space to store since they do not store actual data. 3. Additional data security : Views can include only certain columns in the table so that only the non-sensitive columns are included and exposed to the end user. In addition some databases allow views to have different security settings thus hiding sensitive data from prying eyes Refer http://www.1keydata.com/sql/sql-view.html