The SQL INSERT INTO Statement
The INSERT INTO statement is used to insert new records in a table.
It is possible to write the INSERT INTO statement in two ways:
Syntax 1
Specify both the column names and the values to be inserted:
INSERT INTO table_name ( column1 , column2 , column3 , ...) VALUES ( value1 , value2 , value3 , ...);
Syntax 2
If you insert values for ALL the columns of the table, you can omit the column names.
However, the order of the values must be in the same order as the columns in the table:
INSERT INTO table_name VALUES ( value1 , value2 , value3 , ...);
Demo Database
Below is a selection from the Customers table used in the examples:
| CustomerID | CustomerName | ContactName | Address | City | PostalCode | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 89 | White Clover Markets | Karl Jablonski | 305 - 14th Ave. S. Suite 3B | Seattle | 98128 | USA |
| 90 | Wilman Kala | Matti Karttunen | Keskuskatu 45 | Helsinki | 21240 | Finland |
| 91 | Wolski | Zbyszek | ul. Filtrowa 68 | Walla | 01-012 | Poland |
INSERT INTO Example
Here we insert values for ALL the columns of the table, so we omit the column names.
The following SQL inserts a new record in the "Customers" table:
Example
INSERT INTO Customers
VALUES ('Cardinal', 'Tom B. Erichsen', 'Skagen 21', 'Stavanger', '4006', 'Norway');The last record in the "Customers" table will now look like this:
| CustomerID | CustomerName | ContactName | Address | City | PostalCode | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 92 | Cardinal | Tom B. Erichsen | Skagen 21 | Stavanger | 4006 | Norway |
Notice that we did not insert any number into the CustomerID field!
The CustomerID column is an auto-increment field and will be automatically generated when a new record is inserted.
Insert Data Only in Specific Columns
Here we insert values only in some specific columns of the table.
The following SQL inserts a new record - but only inserts data in the "CustomerName", "City", and "Country" columns (CustomerID will be updated automatically):
Example
INSERT INTO Customers (CustomerName, City, Country)
VALUES ('Cardinal', 'Stavanger', 'Norway');The last record in the "Customers" table will now look like this:
| CustomerID | CustomerName | ContactName | Address | City | PostalCode | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 92 | Cardinal | null | null | Stavanger | null | Norway |
Insert Multiple Rows
To insert multiple rows of data, we use the same INSERT INTO statement, but with multiple values:
The following SQL inserts three new records in the "Customers" table:
Example
INSERT INTO Customers (CustomerName, ContactName, Address, City, PostalCode, Country)
VALUES
('Cardinal', 'Tom B. Erichsen', 'Skagen 21', 'Stavanger', '4006', 'Norway'),
('Greasy Burger', 'Per Olsen', 'Gateveien 15', 'Sandnes', '4306', 'Norway'),
('Tasty Tee', 'Finn Egan', 'Streetroad 19B', 'Liverpool', 'L1 0AA', 'UK');Note
Make sure you separate each set of values with a comma , .
The last three records in the "Customers" table will now look like this:
| CustomerID | CustomerName | ContactName | Address | City | PostalCode | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 92 | Cardinal | Tom B. Erichsen | Skagen 21 | Stavanger | 4006 | Norway |
| 93 | Greasy Burger | Per Olsen | Gateveien 15 | Sandnes | 4306 | Norway |
| 94 | Tasty Tee | Finn Egan | Streetroad 19B | Liverpool | L1 0AA | UK |