The method of creating a database varies with the DBMS being used and its Graphical User Interface (GUI). DBMS such as oracle, Visual FoxPro, SQL Server and so on each describe a method of creating a database. Usually, the user creates a database by either typing a command of a specified format on the console of the DBMS or by a process much similar to opening a new file for editing on typical windows based Software. Following is a SQL command that creates an oracle database:

 CREATE DATABASE mysampledb
USER SYS IDENTIFIED BY pz6r58
USER SYSTEM IDENTIFIED BY y1tz5p
LOGFILE GROUP 1 ('/vobs/oracle/oradata/mysampledb/redo01.log') SIZE 100M,
GROUP 2 ('/vobs/oracle/oradata/mysampledb/redo02.log') SIZE 100M,
GROUP 3 ('/vobs/oracle/oradata/mysampledb/redo03.log') SIZE 100M
MAXLOGFILES 5
MAXLOGMEMBERS 5
MAXLOGHISTORY 1
MAXDATAFILES 100
MAXINSTANCES 1
CHARACTER SET US7ASCII
NATIONAL CHARACTER SET AL16UTF16
DATAFILE '/vobs/oracle/oradata/mysampledb/system01.dbf' SIZE 325M REUSE
EXTENT MANAGEMENT LOCAL
DEFAULT TEMPORARY TABLESPACE tempts1
DATAFILE '/vobs/oracle/oradata/mysampledb/temp01.dbf' SIZE 20M REUSE
UNDO TABLESPACE undotbs
DATAFILE '/vobs/oracle/oradata/mysampledb/undotbs01.dbf'
SIZE 200M REUSE AUTOEXTEND ON NEXT 5120K MAXSIZE UNLIMITED;

While it is important to understand all the terms in the above command, it is now unnecessary to actually issue such intricate codes, thanks to the GUI. Following a series of steps on a GUI, a command could be automatically generated based on the user's input. Users normally avail of Oracle's DBCA or Database Configuration Assistant, a GUI based tool, to create a database. Essentially, creating a database involves specifying the amount of space to be allocated for it on the computer, a name for the actual physical file where the information will be stored (system01.dbf in the above example), a name for the database (mysampledb), the number of users that may simultaneously edit data and so on. Usually, the DBMS saves all the operations performed on a database in a log file. The operations performed using the GUI are translated to commands of the above sort and stored in this log file.

Creating a database on Microsoft Access is similar to opening a new file in Microsoft Word. Using a GUI makes creating and managing databases less intimidating.