How can I store the output of a query into a temporary table and use the table in a new query?

I have a MySQL query which uses 3 tables with 2 inner joins. Then, I have to find the maximum of a group from this query output. Combining them both is beyond me. Can I break down the problem by storing the output of the first complicated query into some sort of temporary table, give it a name and then use this table in a new query? This will make the code more manageable. Thank you for your help.

Solution

This is very straightforward:

CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE tempname  AS (    
    SELECT whatever, whatever
      FROM rawtable
      JOIN othertable ON this = that
)

The temporary table will vanish when your connection closes. A temp table contains the data that was captured at the time it was created.

You can also create a view, like so.

CREATE VIEW viewname AS (    
    SELECT whatever, whatever
      FROM rawtable
      JOIN othertable ON this = that
)

Views are permanent objects (they don't vanish when your connection closes) but they retrieve data from the underlying tables at the time you invoke them.