INSERT() SQL Commands INSERT()NAME
INSERT - Inserts new rows into a table
SYNOPSIS
INSERT INTO table [ ( column [, ...] ) ]
{ DEFAULT VALUES | VALUES ( expression [, ...] ) | SELECT query }
INPUTS
table The name of an existing table.
column The name of a column in table.
DEFAULT VALUES
All columns will be filled by NULLs or by values specified when
the table was created using DEFAULT clauses.
expression
A valid expression or value to assign to column.
query A valid query. Refer to the SELECT statement for a further
description of valid arguments.
OUTPUTS
INSERT oid 1
Message returned if only one row was inserted. oid is the
numeric OID of the inserted row.
INSERT 0 #
Message returned if more than one rows were inserted. # is the
number of rows inserted.
DESCRIPTION
INSERT allows one to insert new rows into a table. One can insert a
single row at a time or several rows as a result of a query. The col‐
umns in the target list may be listed in any order.
Each column not present in the target list will be inserted using a
default value, either a declared DEFAULT value or NULL. Postgres will
reject the new column if a NULL is inserted into a column declared NOT
NULL.
If the expression for each column is not of the correct data type,
automatic type coercion will be attempted.
You must have insert privilege to a table in order to append to it, as
well as select privilege on any table specified in a WHERE clause.
USAGE
Insert a single row into table films:
INSERT INTO films VALUES
('UA502','Bananas',105,'1971-07-13','Comedy',INTERVAL '82 minute');
In this second example the last column len is omitted and therefore it
will have the default value of NULL:
INSERT INTO films (code, title, did, date_prod, kind)
VALUES ('T_601', 'Yojimbo', 106, DATE '1961-06-16', 'Drama');
Insert a single row into table distributors; note that only column name
is specified, so the omitted column did will be assigned its default
value:
INSERT INTO distributors (name) VALUES ('British Lion');
Insert several rows into table films from table tmp:
INSERT INTO films SELECT * FROM tmp;
Insert into arrays (refer to the PostgreSQL User's Guide for further
information about arrays):
-- Create an empty 3x3 gameboard for noughts-and-crosses
-- (all of these queries create the same board attribute)
INSERT INTO tictactoe (game, board[1:3][1:3])
VALUES (1,'{{"","",""},{},{"",""}}');
INSERT INTO tictactoe (game, board[3][3])
VALUES (2,'{}');
INSERT INTO tictactoe (game, board)
VALUES (3,'{{,,},{,,},{,,}}');
COMPATIBILITY
SQL92
INSERT is fully compatible with SQL92. Possible limitations in fea‐
tures of the query clause are documented for SELECT [select(l)].
SQL - Language Statements 29 March 2001 INSERT()