# Create arrays
<a name="creating-arrays"></a>

To build an array literal in Athena, use the `ARRAY` keyword, followed by brackets `[ ]`, and include the array elements separated by commas.

## Examples
<a name="examples"></a>

This query creates one array with four elements.

```
SELECT ARRAY [1,2,3,4] AS items
```

It returns:

```
+-----------+
| items     |
+-----------+
| [1,2,3,4] |
+-----------+
```

This query creates two arrays.

```
SELECT ARRAY[ ARRAY[1,2], ARRAY[3,4] ] AS items
```

It returns:

```
+--------------------+
| items              |
+--------------------+
| [[1, 2], [3, 4]]   |
+--------------------+
```

To create an array from selected columns of compatible types, use a query, as in this example:

```
WITH
dataset AS (
  SELECT 1 AS x, 2 AS y, 3 AS z
)
SELECT ARRAY [x,y,z] AS items FROM dataset
```

This query returns:

```
+-----------+
| items     |
+-----------+
| [1,2,3]   |
+-----------+
```

In the following example, two arrays are selected and returned as a welcome message.

```
WITH
dataset AS (
  SELECT
    ARRAY ['hello', 'amazon', 'athena'] AS words,
    ARRAY ['hi', 'alexa'] AS alexa
)
SELECT ARRAY[words, alexa] AS welcome_msg
FROM dataset
```

This query returns:

```
+----------------------------------------+
| welcome_msg                            |
+----------------------------------------+
| [[hello, amazon, athena], [hi, alexa]] |
+----------------------------------------+
```

To create an array of key-value pairs, use the `MAP` operator that takes an array of keys followed by an array of values, as in this example:

```
SELECT ARRAY[
   MAP(ARRAY['first', 'last', 'age'],ARRAY['Bob', 'Smith', '40']),
   MAP(ARRAY['first', 'last', 'age'],ARRAY['Jane', 'Doe', '30']),
   MAP(ARRAY['first', 'last', 'age'],ARRAY['Billy', 'Smith', '8'])
] AS people
```

This query returns:

```
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| people                                                                                              |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| [{last=Smith, first=Bob, age=40}, {last=Doe, first=Jane, age=30}, {last=Smith, first=Billy, age=8}] |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
```