Create dynamic tables based on a loop in PostgreSQL 9.2 - postgresql

Question

I have a function where I want to create a table for a every year based on the year from bill date which I will be looping.
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION ccdb.ccdb_archival()
RETURNS void AS
$BODY$
DECLARE dpsql text;
DECLARE i smallint;
BEGIN
FOR i IN SELECT DISTINCT EXTRACT(year FROM bill_date) FROM ccdb.bills ORDER BY 1 LOOP
DO $$
BEGIN
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS ccdb_archival.bills||i (LIKE ccdb.bills INCLUDING ALL);
BEGIN
ALTER TABLE ccdb_archival.bills ADD COLUMN archival_date timestamp;
EXCEPTION
WHEN duplicate_column THEN RAISE NOTICE 'column archival_date already exists in <table_name>.';
END;
END;
$$;
INSERT INTO ccdb_archival.bills
SELECT *, now() AS archival_date
FROM ccdb.bills
WHERE bill_date::date >= current_date - interval '3 years' AND bill_date::date < current_date - interval '8 years';
END LOOP;
END;
$BODY$
LANGUAGE plpgsql VOLATILE
COST 100;
I want to concatenate the year with the actual table name for each year.
I am unable to do the same with the above code. I get an error:
ERROR: syntax error at or near "||"
LINE 3: CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS ccdb_archival.bills||i (LI...
Please suggest how do I achieve my requirement.

Answer 1

you cannot compose strings with metadata. You should utilize execute: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.1/static/ecpg-sql-execute-immediate.html

Answer 2

To create N tables with a prefix use this script.
This code uses a for loop and variable to creates 10 table starting with prefix 'sbtest' namely sbtest1, sbtest2 ... sbtest10
create_table.sql
do $$
DECLARE myvar integer;
begin
for myvar in 1..10 loop
EXECUTE format('CREATE TABLE sbtest%s (
id SERIAL NOT NULL,
k INTEGER NOT NULL,
c CHAR(120) NOT NULL,
pad CHAR(60) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (id))', myvar);
end loop;
end; $$
Run it using psql -U user_name -d database_name -f create_table.sql
Example Table sbtest1 is as
id | k | c | pad
----+---+---+-----
(0 rows)
Table "public.sbtest1"
Column | Type | Collation | Nullable | Default | Storage | Stats
target | Description
--------+----------------+-----------+----------+-------------------------------------+----------+------
--------+-------------
id | integer | | not null | nextval('sbtest1_id_seq'::regclass) | plain |
|
k | integer | | not null | | plain |
|
c | character(120) | | not null | | extended |
|
pad | character(60) | | not null | | extended |
|
Indexes:
"sbtest1_pkey" PRIMARY KEY, btree (id)
Access method: heap